After the Germans torpedoed the freighter on which Phillip and his mother are traveling from wartime Curacao to the U.S., Phillip finds himself dependent on Timothy, an old, black West Indian sailor. Shipwrecked, there is just the two of them. This is the story of their struggle for survival and of Phillip's efforts to adjust to his new disability, blindness, and to understand the dignified, wise, and loving old man who is his companion.
