In The Prince of Tides, Conroy closely examines the effect of one's past upon one's life through his main character, Tom Wingo. Forced to relive his childhood in order to provide information for a psychiatrist trying to help his twin sister, a famous poet, to sanity following a suicide attempt, Tom finds himself undergoing therapy. As the novel's opening line, "My wound is geography" suggests, Conroy once again examines the effects of culture upon the development of personality.

The Wingos are members of the South Carolinian fishing society, where Tom was raised on an island, learning to crab and hunt from a young age.

His account reveals that he places most of the blame for his family's problems squarely upon the shoulders of his mother. The novel develops through vignettes reflecting upon the household activities and interrelationships within which Tom, his twin Savannah, and their brother...