Dickey Tonking, a favorite student of troubled professor Barry Richter, is called upon to deliver a paper to an assembly of peers during Richters illness. In doing so, he radically distorts the original text and almost unconsciously includes ideas of his own. But when the professor dies in a fire that looks suspiciously like a suicide, his protg is left to face the academic consequences. Worse yet, when Dickey unwittingly becomes involved in an attempted murder of a girl by a jealous lover, he shoots the villain during a scuffle. As the girl, Cissy, flees the scene, both she and Dickey have no idea they will soon begin a rocky relationship with unforeseen consequences. To escape the police after the shooting, Dickey travels to South Africa, where he hopes to rekindle a liaison with a doctor; however, she soon terminates the relationship. Just as Dickey finds himself intrigued by a nurse, the police finally catch up with him. He is flown home under guard, tried, and sentenced to several years in jail. Visited by Cissy in prison, Dickey is relieved when his innocence is finally acknowledged. But now only time will tell whether their relationship will lastor whether he will ever be able to shake his obsession with the nurse he left behind. Limbodeswills Wain shares the tale of a young mans coming-of-age journey as he faces many challenges, learns to love, and discovers his destiny.
