Plot Summary

Popeye, a squinty-eyed, corncob-pipe-smoking, spinach-hating, mumbling sailor man with overly muscular forearms partly the result of genetics, has just arrived in the port town of Sweethaven. He has been sailing the seven seas in search of his father who abandoned him when he was two. He is viewed suspiciously by many in town, with an exception of Wimpy, who will become friends with anyone who will buy him a hamburger. One who does view him suspiciously is Olive Oyl, the lanky, workboots-wearing daughter of his rooming-house landlords. Popeye and Olive gradually fall in love while they discover and decide to raise an abandoned infant boy whom Popeye names Swee'pea in honor of the town. Olive had been engaged to town bully Bluto, who rules Sweethaven on behalf of the mysterious Commodore, and Bluto does not take this sudden competition lying down: he uses Swee'pea to get Olive back. What happens in this situation in Popeye fighting for both Olive and Swee'pea is partly affected by discovering what happened to his father.—Huggo