Mrs. Holroyd is married to a loutish miner, who drinks, patronizes prostitutes, and apparently brutalizes her. When a gentlemanly neighbor makes romantic advances to her, she wishes her husband dead. Sooner than she hoped, her wish comes true—when her husband dies in a mining accident. When Charles Holroyd's body is brought home from the mine, and his wife and mother must wash him and lay him out for his funeral, we see for the first time the other side of the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Holroyd—now, when it's too late.

From the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia to the New York City docks where he worked as a customs inspector, this outstanding documentary tracks the personal and intellectual adventures of Herman Melville, one of the greatest talents in American literary history. Narrated by John Huston, the film includes readings and commentary by F. Murray Abraham, Robert Penn Warren, Alfred Kazan, and other notable writers and critics.