Rocco is an old style man who's worked his whole life to care for his family and retired to a comfortable, though not wealthy, life. He has gotten old enough that he doesn't want to work anymore, but he still spends many days at the docks talking to his old co-workers and "encouraging" the new workers with tips and playful taunts, always meant in the spirit of nurturing. He tries to let his daughter live her own life, but he has trouble not keeping in touch. He writes her letters in the mail whenever he gets the chance, feeling that they have a more personal touch than email or even a phone call, though he does enjoy a phone call or even the occasional Skyping conversation. He visits almost once a month, but respects her enough to announce before he does and allows her to set up where they meet.

During his daughter's relationship he had to physically be held back some days from going and personally beating her boyfriend. Between missing her mother and being worried about his daughter, he ended spending more time at the bar, though he never got to the point of alcoholic. Though Gretchen doesn't know it, after she left once she was released from the hospital, he found and fought with her abusive ex-boyfriend, ending the encounter with, "I worked for almost forty years on those fishing boats, I know the places I can take a body and let it rest nicely in the bed without anyone ever finding it. And yes, I'm willing to risk jail or even my life for the good of my daughter, so if I even hear of you THINKING about her again, I will break you. If you try to contact her, I will paralyze you. If you EVER TOUCH HER AGAIN, you will know what if feels like to try and hold your life in in freezing salt water."