Colonel Fletcher Hinton, USMC, Retired, has had a storied career, but one aspect of his life remains wanting as his end approaches: family. Son Cary, a former Marine and now a college professor, is about to marry outside his race, and the old man, suffering a bout of dementia, insults Cary's fiancee. Too, Cary has moved his mother away from Fletcher, fearing the old man has hit her. This then is Fletcher Hinton's final battle - proving himself a good father and husband as he copes with the stain that seems to tarnish his name and, through him, the Corps.