SYNOPSIS:

Martin Eden is a young, uneducated and impoverished sailor who loves to read and, in fact, enjoys poetry and classic literature. Martin would seem destined to struggle with whatever paltry earnings he could gain from the physical toil that would keep him in the slums of West Oakland the rest of his days. That is, until he meets and is immediately smitten with Ruth Morse. Martin first meets Ruth after rescuing her brother, Arthur, from a gang of drunken thugs on a ferryboat. As a means of thanks for Martin’s heroic intervention, he is invited to the Morse home for Sunday dinner. Here, Martin gets his first real taste of beautiful things and a glimpse of a culture far beyond his grasp. Arthur’s sister, Ruth Morse, encapsulates all of it.Ruth is a stunning young woman deeply entrenched in San Francisco’s bourgeois society class. In order to gain Ruth’s affection, Martin is determined to educate himself, learn proper etiquette, and abandon the life of the sea in pursuit of finer things and dreams of becoming the next Rudyard Kipling. Ruth finds Martin endearing and his goals worthy. Initially, out of pity, she agrees to help him on his journey of education, discovery and culture. What she doesn’t foresee is falling in love with Martin along the way. There are many obstacles for both Martin and Ruth, including Ruth’s cunning mother who wants only the best for her daughter and would stop at almost nothing to get Martin out of Ruth’s life and as far away from her family as possible. One of her schemes has Martin sent off on an extended voyage to the South Seas where Martin comes face-to-face with, and is inspired by his own creator (Author, Jack London). Eventually, Martin cleans himself up, learns proper etiquette, and overcomes much opposition to achieve great notoriety as a published author. But what he learns far too late is that these achievements would come at the highest cost imaginable and take him on a voyage like none he’s ever experienced. This is a journey that would plunge Martin Eden into the deepest, darkest waters of his own tortured soul.

MARTIN EDEN