MacKinlay Kantor

Lem Siddons decides to put down roots after one too many years on the road with a ramshackle jazz band. He marries his sweetheart Vida Downey, and becomes a scoutmaster.

Recounts the problems faced by three returning veterans of WWII as they attempt to pick up the threads of their lives. Captain Derry is returning to a loveless marriage, Sergeant Stephenson is a stranger to a family that's grown up without him, and sailor Parrish is tormented by the loss of his hands.