Set in 1953, this novel follows 21-year-old Celia Henderson during a month of uncertainty in her life. Visiting Galveston, Texas, a barrier island with its own history of instability and survival, Celia faces a series of conflicts—between a lawless Galveston and a hypocritical, “moral” mainland; between the Old South and the Old West; and between homosexuals and those prejudiced against them. Celia, who narrates her story 30 years after the fact, must also cope with a sexual double standard inherent in her attraction to an unhappy law student. As she interacts with her irrepressible cowboy cousin Emmett Chandler and a Mexican American artist, Louis Platon, Celia grows to accept her own fears and understand others and life's continual uncertainties. While Celia personifies the innocence of the 1950s—seldom as innocent as portrayed—this tale offers an inside look at continual social problems in the U.S.