As Nicholas arrives in Long Beach to embark on a new life as a merchant marine, he is caught between two worlds, trading life ashore for life at sea. Longing for this journey seems to fill the gaps in a joyless life of solitary existence. An encounter with a lone woman during his last night on land makes his visit to the pier the following morning seem like a farewell to a futile pursuit and the dawn of a new beginning. His unconditional surrender to the present and his aspiration to a companionship, however, uncovers the voyage's true colors: an unavailing escape from his own self.