From a tormented orphan with a clubfoot, Philip Carey grows into an impressionable young man with a voracious appetite for adventure and knowledge. His cravings take him to Paris at age eighteen to try his hand at art, then back to London to study medicine. But even so, nothing can sate his nagging hunger for experience. Then he falls obsessively in love, embarking on a disastrous relationship that will change his life forever.A young man struggling for self-realization, Philip Carey becomes caught in a destructive love affair with a waitress, in a novel about sexual obsession, self-discovery, and the complexities of human relationships.