James "Jim" Browner was a sailor and the estranged husband of Mary Browner. When they were first married, the couple lived happily together in Liverpool. However, that happiness came to an end when the couple invited Mary's older sister Sarah to live with them. Sarah fell in love with Jim, and when he rejected her advances, she resolved to destroy their marriage out of spite. She began to turn Mary against her husband, and the couple's relationship quickly deteriorated, even after Jim forced Sarah to leave. Jim, a recovering alcoholic, began drinking again, which further estranged him from Mary. Eventually Sarah introduced Mary to Alec Fairbairn, a young sailor with whom Mary began an affair.