Lovesick and sex-crazed, the mother sets out on an intercontinental quest for the right--or wrong--man, while her mild-mannered but manipulative former husband clings to his memories in California. And their teenage son? How he struggles both to keep faith with his family and to get by himself, and what in the end he must do to break free, makes for a classic coming-of-age story--a novel that combines keen insight and devastating wit to hilarious and heartbreaking effect.