Tom’s parents have problems: his dad drinks and rarely comes home; his mother, a manic-depressive, slides into mental illness as his father becomes unfaithful. Tom and siblings live with an aunt when his mother is hospitalized. The aunt and uncle provide guidance and discipline, taking the siblings to church. Tom falls in love but graduates and becomes a merchant sailor on the Great Lakes, planning to marry. His girlfriend drops him, leaving him depressed. The first part ends with Tom in the Navy and his aunt telling him to get a relationship with Christ.