Set against the background of the Depression in the 1930s and the Second World War, the story centres around Abel Mason and his desperate search for love and happiness in relationships with four women. After an affair ends in tragedy, he leaves his vicious wife Lena and travels North with his ten year old son Dick. To secure a home for the boy and employment for himself, he makes an illegal marriage with the widow of a wealthy garage owner. But later Abel falls hopelessly in love with her sister Florrie...