Pedro is an orphan who grows up without human warmth, educated first by an uncle and later by Don Mateo, a teacher who transmits to him a pessimistic conception of life. The death of his great friend Alfredo plunges the protagonist into a deep existential crisis, which leads him to make a tremendous determination: he will become a sailor to live without love or possession. But Pedro falls in love with Jane, a young American, vital and cheerful and, although he tries to flee from happiness, the pilot Bolea and his mother-in-law help him change his principles. However, a tragic event seems to force him to return to the context of childhood.