Beach of Dreams
Two sailors, Harbutt and Raft, discuss their plight as workers under the thumb of a wealthy owner. During a windstorm, Raft and his fellow hands must climb a mast of the three-master to control a rigging gone astray. Once they master that runaway rigging, they pause to watch another vessel in the distance. It's a ship many have seen before. We are introduced to the occupants of this new ship, the Gaston de Paris. The owner is Prince Selm, who loves the finest things in life, yet is drawn to the sea. His guests are an elderly eccentric woman, Madame de Warens, and her adopted daughter, Cleo de Bromsart, an unmarried 20-year-old who looks down on the lower classes. Madame de Warens is upset...