From the ageless elements of great drama-love and hate, fear and home, war and vengeance, Petrakis has spun a modern classic. centers around two love affairs, one youthful and poetic, the other a seething, sensual mature love that grows to be all-consuming. It is the story, as well, of a strange, driven family seen in a new light by a son newly returned from war, weary of killing and death, but finding he has not left these behind him. Confrontation and the haunted past threaten his love and his hope for the future.