A Navy cadet is discharged for homosexuality after the Korean War and is left to survive in San Francisco.

One mistake can change a life forever. Effren Gorgens committed the worst sin of all. Caught up in the influence of another man’s impulse, he engages in erotic acts on a Navy ship. His travels back to America turn dark when he’s dishonorably discharged, and stranded alone in San Francisco. He struggles to make peace with an unforgivable vice while building a new life in a strange world. Yet a man’s true identity can never be fought off. Living with homosexual desires is hard. A homosexual falling in love can be deadly.