"Every man's life is an Odyssey: it does not matter if the body remains rooted in one place. For it is the heart and spirit that journey to Ithaca." Those words from Father Marlas, parish priest to Kostas Volakis, embody the theme of this novel, which carries Kostas and his bride, Katerina from the harsh life on Crete, to the United States, through their struggles with poverty, and through their joys and sorrows with children and grandchildren. For one of their children, Kostas feels not love, but hate, which leads inexorably to murder, and, finally, to a dramatic redemption in prison.