Tregan was a British soldier in the First World War. Just before he went to France, he met and married Barbara. Theirs was an intense and brief- lived romance, and he was off to fight before they had a chance to share married life. He never saw Barbara again. When he returned, a casualty and permanently crippled, he discovered that Barbara had died in childbirth and that her parents had taken jealous possession of their small daughter.
Embittered and rootless, Tregan came to America, not knowing what he wanted or where to seek it. The Tregan who had hoped for contentment and repose became Tregan the Wanderer. From city to city he traveled; from woman to woman.
Three women, among the many who crossed his path, loved him. Joan he accepted. Alice, he aspired to, Lola he protected. Joan left him when she found he would never really love her. Alice married another man. Lola committed suicide- and he was charged with murder.
This dramatic saga of a soldier's quest for happiness in this dark world is told as only Eric Knight could tell it.