Set in a Jewish (New York) household where a mezuzah rather than a crucifix seems to work better—after the hiring of a South American maid, after the death of Fran's good friend (heart attack? Fran knows otherwise), after the friend's husband decamps and twelve-year-old son vandalizes their house, after Dave's old mother Bubba is charred to death, and finally after their mutual friend—a psychiatrist whom Fran consults—is no more immune to the diabolism which goes by the strange word Taguapica. . .