Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 Summary

Chapter 1 - Starbuck recalls how he sat in his jail cell on the day of his release (April 21st 1977, three years prior to the time in which he's apparently writing). He describes how a job in the Nixon White House led him to become peripherally involved in the Watergate Scandal, and sent to prison. He also describes his attempts to clear his mind of thoughts of his guilt-ridden past and terror-filled future.

Chapter 2 - Starbuck recalls the beginnings of his relationship with his beloved wife Ruth, whom he met at the end of World War II when he was a representative of the US Government at the Nazi War Crimes trials in Nuremberg and she was a starving refugee from a concentration camp. He writes of how her disillusionment with humanity made her resist loving him, marrying him, and having a...