Against the backdrop of race riots, the Vietnam War, and the countercultural revolution, Luther Garatdjian comes of age. The second youngest in a troubled family, Luther feels, as a college sophomore, the proof is conclusive: he was not born with the right stuff to succeed in life. And yet, on the cusp of the Summer of Love in 1967, an unexpected door opens. A budding artist from an upper middle class family, Mona Van Dine comes to represent his hope of escape from the familial turmoil and failure he has witnessed. When Mona leaves New York City, where she and Luther met, to attend art school in Boston, Luther fears that she will leave him behind as well. Dependent on amphetamines to ease his sense of intellectual inferiority and increasingly reliant on alcohol as well, and afflicted with sexual instincts that lead him to stray frequently from their relationship, Luther nevertheless grows increasingly desperate to keep Mona close, as she remains his lifeline. As time passes, Luther finds that all is not as it initially appeared with Mona and her family. In a sense he discovers that the family he has run toward, material blessings aside, bears a disturbing similarity to the family he has run from, and that the life he has been pursuing may not bring the happiness he is seeking.