The Voyage of Life chronicles the life journey of SEAN BUCHANAN through metaphoric depictions of the four stages of life in Thomas Cole's Voyage of Life paintings, Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. The painting's depictions are a metaphor for Sean's life-the verdant landscape and calm waters of childhood become turbulent in youth, and early in manhood the shores turn rocky when he faces one obstacle after another. Secrets that live in darkness can take a lifetime to see the light of day. A secret that has hovered over him since youth is revealed later in his life.