Show Synopsis:
Ensign Nellie Forbush, a nurse, and Emile de Becque, a plantation owner, fall in love on an island in the South Pacific during World War II and become engaged. Nellie discovers that Emile's two children are half-Polynesian and breaks off the engagement, despite Emile's pleadings. Emile goes on a mission to report on Japanese ship movements and goes missing. Nellie comes to know and love his children, despite her racial prejudice, and when Emile returns, they are ready to start life as a family.

Character:
Ensign Nellie Forbush, an unsophisticated but optimistic WWII nurse from Arkansas.

Song Context:
Although everyone around them is worried about the war, Nellie tells Emile that she is going to remain positive about the outcome. Emile and Nellie begin to wonder about their own future.

Fun Facts:
1) Oscar Hammerstein II asked Mary Martin to play Nellie because he was intent on casting her in a role that showed "the real Mary, a corn-fed girl from Texas." 
2) This was one of the first songs written for South Pacific, and it was written before the creative team started working on the book. 
3) This musical was based on a series of short stories called Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1947.