A young man returns home to a port town in Massachusetts following four years of naval service in the civil war.

Although he didn't write to his girlfriend for four years, he expected her to be waiting for him. She wasn't - she married another.

He also plans to go into the whaling business but didn't know that during his military service the whaling trade dried up as the discovery of petroleum had negated the need for whale oil.

With his life in a downward spiral and his anger boiling, he must decide what kind of future path he will take. 