Francis again gave into the temptation to drink even though he told Helen he would refrain. While at the saloon Helen recapped how well off Francis and her were before Francis became a chronic alcoholic. It was getting late now and Francis and Helen needed to find a place to sleep so they headed down to their old friend Jack's house to see if they could get out of the cold for a night. .
While they were at Jack's Francis encounters the ghost of the trolley worker he murdered. He explained to the ghost that he did not intentionally kill him, yet he was a scab so he got what he deserved. Throughout Francis" life he killed three men uniquely all by abusing the use of his baseball skills. The scab was struck in the head with a baseball-sized rock hurled with amazing speed and accuracy. The second was a bum he killed by swinging him into a concrete wall and smashing his head. Finally, the third was one swing of a baseball bat to the back of the man who killed his friend Rudy. .
As the novel continues, Francis continues to relive past experiences from as early as childhood. After Helen dies and his friend Rudy is murdered Francis decides to return to his wife and kids he abandoned some twenty years earlier. However after twenty years his whole family is not entirely ready to give him another chance. .
At the time William Kennedy wrote this novel there was a heightened awareness of ethnic identity. Throughout the novel Kennedy portrays the Francis as an unintelligent bum with a rather cold heart. He feels no remorse for killing the people he did. It was not uncommon for the Irish to be viewed this way during this time period. The fact that Francis was a chronic alcoholic as well did not add to his reputation. Alcoholism in this time period was viewed as a serious weakness which stereotyped many Irish-American immigrants. Francis" alcoholism displayed his lack of self-control as well as his laziness because he would resort to the bottle anytime he was faced with adversity.