When ship's fireman Peter McCabe walks out on his long-suffering wife, he leaves her impoverished, with two young daughters and a boy born soon after his departure. After an absence of fourteen years McCabe returns, sacked and humiliated, trailing trouble in his wake.

Robert Newton
as Peter McCabe

Kathleen Harrison
as Mrs. McCabe

Avis Scott
as Nora McCabe

Susan Shaw
as Connie McCabe

Robin Netscher
as George Alexander McCabe

Richard Burton
as Ben Satterthwaite

Kenneth Griffith
as Maurice Bruno

Olive Sloane
as Mrs. Gibson

James Hayter
as Ship's Captain

Charles Victor
as Bill