At a very young age, David Greene, the guy with the incredible pitching arm, saw his dreams of playing in the majors almost fulfilled. But he never made it out of the minor leagues. Now, divorced, with a son he's not allowed to see, David returns to the shores of his hometown, the small Cape Cod hamlet of Saltash.

There he meets Judith Silver, a beautiful, brilliant lawyer, and her husband, the eminent professor Gordon Stone - an imposing presence much older than Judith, a living legend now dying of cancer. These two prominent members of the community befriend, nurture, and eventually push David to run for political office.

As David considers the proposition, he and Judith fall into a passionate affair. Into this explosive mix a young woman appears - a single mother at the end of her emotional rope. Crystal desperately needs David, and her son provides a seductive way into David's heart. Yet, caught between two women, and two volatile triangles of desire and devotion, David bears witness to a heartbreaking tragedy that seems as inevitable as the push and pull of ocean waves.