James Baker Hall's blackly comic coming-of-age novel unfolds through the eyes of thirteen-year-old Yates Paul. He becomes consumed with revelations about his inattentive father's loneliness, his grandmother's stormy relationship with his boisterous alcoholic uncle, and the frustration of trying to convince his father of his superior photography skills. In pursuing his callings - photography, baseball, and love (with women twice his age) - the precocious Yates falls back on Walter Mittyesque daydreams to cope with a frequently humorous and sometimes dark world.