Jack is a highly educated high school teacher at a private school for girls in New England. However, Jack is falsely accused of having an inappropriate relationship with one of his students, to which he pleads guilty to a lesser charge and is sentenced to eight months in prison.[1] Jacks' mother, a crusader for women's rights runs an improvised "halfway house" for prostitutes. She refuses to believe Jacks' claims of innocence and abandons him.
After serving his eight-month sentence, Jack wants to have a fresh start, which he finds when he wanders into a diner in Salem Falls, New Hampshire. Without disclosing the details of his past, Jack is hired at the diner as a dishwasher, assisting the owner in the kitchen. Jack eventually begins a romantic relationship with Addie Peabody, the woman who co-owns and operates the diner with her father, Roy Peabody. Given Jack's past and the prevailing attitude in Salem Falls towards Jack, he immediately recognizes that he should not be there, and he is subsequently accused of sexually assaulting Gillian. Due to Jack's intoxicated state at the time, he is unable to recall exactly where he was that night.
