Jude is a young boy in St. Augustine, Florida in the early 20th century. His family lives in a snake-invested house, which delights his father, who studies snakes. When his father is shipped off to war, Jude’s mother moves herself and her son to the beach, where she runs a bookstore and Jude discovers mathematics. Jude’s father returns and forces the family back into the snake-infested house. Jude’s mother can’t take living there, so she abandons her family. Jude and his father have an unpleasant time together. The sad period ends with the father’s death. Jude finishes high school and is accepted to college in Boston. He reconnects with his mother, but she succumbs to illness during his junior year. Jude completes his graduate studies in mathematics. He has an affinity for motorcycles, but he’s involved in a crash one day and is rescued by a kind woman, whom he later marries. They move back to Florida to live on his father’s estate, raise a child, and accrue wealth. One day, Jude wakes up and finds he has gone deaf and that nothing will recover his hearing. Life goes on, and his wife brings their daughter to college, leaving Jude at home. Jude decides to go fishing, but while on the boat, he falls asleep, dreams of his father disapproving of his life, and feels himself slipping away. The last thing he sees is a vision of his wife, saving him again.