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.