John began life in the usual fashion, but in the squalid surroundings of Victorian London his life was neither easy or pleasant. Educated by a priest, abandoned by his father, mentally and physically abused by his prostitute mother, - he seeks refuge at sea. John returns to Whitechapel a grown man, his cruel mother is dead. Years of brutality have been lifted from his broad shoulders until he begins to see only the dark and seamy side of his surroundings. A woman enters his life who seems different, clean...one bright spot in his gloomy existence. For different reasons, they plunge into marriage with catastrophic results. Shattered, John concocts a deadly plan filled with revenge, remorse and the memory of his mother.