During an Atlantic crossing, Farrel asks the captain of the freighter he is sailing on for permission to go ashore at the next port of call: he wants to visit the place where he was born to find out if his mother is still alive. Farrel has been a seaman for 20 years. He has always drunk himself blind and paid for the women he slept with. He never made a friend. When he reaches the snowbound town where he lived his early childhood years, he discovers that his mother is still alive but also that there’s another member to the family.