It is the death of Persis Bradford, Francis's mother, a most unusual woman with an intense feeling for living, that starts the son on his road to maturity. Grief opens his eyes, not only to himself but to Alan Bradford, the stepfather he has always disliked. A summer in Paris is to Francis a journey of the spirit in which he learns, through Solange Bernard, to love and finds through love, how integrate his mixed heritage and how to make use of it. The strange summer, partly idyllic, partly miserable, brings Francis to himself and sends him home to Ann, the young woman whom he has never had the courage to love.