A fourteen-year-old boy with a love for boats and fear of swimming sets out on a small adventure to reach the river and encounters some difficulties along the way.

Stinging from his recently cut-off engagement, a young man retreats to a small town in the mountains of Virginia to work as city editor of the local newspaper. Alternately entranced and disgusted with his hermit-like nocturnal life, he finds peace and pleasure listening to the St. Anthony Chorale.