Matthew Bennett left the slums of London and headed for Tilbury dock, a shipping port on the Thames River. Starting as a grunt, he eventually masters a tall shipyard crane and follows his uncle to America where he operates a crane in Cleveland, Ohio. In nearby Akron, Matthew befriends a Kent State University student named Jason. Meanwhile, the University becomes embroiled in a debate over the direction of the school headed by two professors of different camps. One in favor of the school's continuing to assist students in their personal quest for knowledge and the other advocating that the goal of the school must be to change society. In Matthew's quest for knowledge a gnawing feeling enters his soul, "What is truth?" In the meantime his concern for animals leads him to join the violent "Animal Liberation Vanguard." Will Matthew's passion for animal rights overtake his sense of values? Or, is there something deeper vying for his soul?