George Mane is an artist and a sailor whose life is darkened by devastating episodes of depression. Like so many people with this affliction, George is left with prolonged scars from such common life events as bullying, the muzzled frustrations of a teenage boy in the 1950s, and the inevitable losses that are universal to humanity. The tragic death of a schoolmate, an abused girl with whom George develops an ambiguous relationship, his obsessive dependence on art and sailing, and George's unusual family, and his circle of equally unusual friends, all figure in the emotional turmoil that defines his life and leads to a dramatic act of revenge.