在这部午后曳航剧情/悬疑/惊悚片中,Sarah Miles饰演一位年轻的寡妇，有个十二、三岁的儿子。儿子漂亮文雅，热爱海洋，崇拜水手的生活。母子两人坐在海边的小城中，儿子有一群坏朋友，也都是一些孩子。这些人有个小领袖，是个天生的小叛徒。儿子爱母亲，住的房间和母亲的房间只有一墙之隔，墙上有个小洞，他每天夜里都要偷窥母亲的行动，包括母亲的换衣和裸体。一天，母亲为取悦儿子，带他去见一位船长，竟和船长相恋。当母亲和船长缠绵时，发现隔墙有耳，母亲怒斥了儿子。故事的结局是：儿子和他的那群朋友，在小领袖的指挥下，把那文雅的船长给杀掉了。
Widowed now for close to four years, Anne Osborne, who now operates the antiques shop formerly owned by her husband David, and their son, Jonathan Osborne, live in a small, English seaside town. Both Anne and Jonathan still miss David even after all these years. Going through puberty, Jonathan uses something he finds in his bedroom to explore the emerging thoughts of sexuality going through his mind. Although Anne knows Jonathan sneaks out of the house early in the morning against her orders, she is unaware that he is attending meetings of a secret society of five boys, who refer to each other only by a cardinal number, their rank within the group as assigned by "The Chief", number one. The Chief is an arrogant, sadistic pseudo-intellectual who needs to show his power and dominance over the other four in whatever means possible. He largely considers them immature as he spouts off his Nietzschean philosophies, centering on that adults create rules that ultimately disrupt the natural order of life. When the US based merchant ship the Belle docks in port, Anne and Jonathan meet Second Officer Jim Cameron. Jonathan, who is fascinated by the sea, becomes enamored with what Jim represents to him, the natural order the Chief speaks of, specifically of the sea. Anne becomes romantically involved with Jim while he is in town. Their encounters lead to Jim critically evaluating his life and future. As Jonathan believes Jim may be attempting to disrupt that natural order he so admires, Jonathan believes it is his duty to change Jim back to restore that natural order, and if that is not possible, to correct the impending disorder by whatever means necessary.
