A true story. Dennis Wayne Smith was born into a mining community in Alabama. His mother, with whom he suffers a strained relationship, has a nervous condition that his grandmother calls 'running fits.' His adventures here with classmates and friends are recalled as well as the racism in the north and the south. The family encounters hard times and this causes his father to find work in Ohio when the Korean War starts, and then the family later moves to Indiana. Dennis goes through his teenage years and first sexual experience. He joins the Navy, and has adventures in California and the Far...