A white sea breaking on a beach, the slow rustle of a shivering tree, the hot sc
ent of grass ...I breathed deeply and I felt as though the waiting water rose up
in front of me and would not let me go' As far as his father, an accomplished p
oet, is concerned, Richard will never amount to anything, and so he decides to t
ake his fate into his own hands. But at the last moment, he is saved by Jake, wh
o appeals to Richard not to waste his life. Together they set out for adventure,
jumping aboard the the first ship they see and working their passage to Norway
and around Europe, eventually to bohemian Paris, where Richard meets Hesta, a ca
ptivating music student ...
