Dennis McLeary, sexually abused at age 6.
At 18, he accepts sexual advances of a 14 year-old girl hoping to prove to himself that he is a normal man.
Jailed for 17 years for having sex with the under-age girl, he is abused in prison by fellow inmates and the prison chaplain.
Free at 35, he determines to better himself and hopes to have a normal marriage.
Ensnared in a messy event, he escapes more prison time by becoming a waiter on a passenger-freighter.
He gets leave from his ship to swim in.