Set in the conflicted eighties, the novel recounts the intertwined journeys of self discovery of preteen Effie O'Reilly and her lonely, loving mother Janet. A single mom and former flower-child, Janet has fought her way up from the precarious countercultural seventies to an executive career and a house in an upscale subdivision bland enough to shield her child from any whiff of that risky past. But subversive, artistic Effie wants something more...