Marion Charles "Pop" Riley is a Navy man at the top of his game. As a Master Chief Radioman, he has reached the top of the enlisted ladder and has served during three wars: World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. In addition, he is also an amateur radio operator with an Extra-Class license and has become something of a legend among his Navy peers. Arriving at the Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine, he is now on an official Twilight Tour, which will mark the end of a Navy career of more than thirty years. All, however, is not sweetness and light with Pop Riley. Divorced from his wife and estranged from his only son, he sees his upcoming retirement not as a reward for his many years of service but rather as a threat to his well-being and a sort of banishment from the only meaningful life he has ever known. In addition, it becomes increasingly obvious that his drinking has reached a level above and beyond what is generally considered normal, even for a sailor, and that his presence at NAS Brunswick is no asset but rather a liability. He yet manages to touch the lives of a number of friends even in ways of which he is himself unaware.