At the beginning of the first Gulf War, the day the bombing started, Alec brings his friend Amos home. Amos is unconscious, near death from AIDS, and the lives of his friends go on about him. Alec and the others go dancing, they go out to eat, they go to work, they arrange among themselves for Amos to be cared for. They feel deeply the crisis in their lives, coming at them from seemingly all directions. How is the cost of caring for Amos going to be paid for? They do what they have to do. They have energy and style and nothing can stop them. They have guts, and some win, some lose. All of them are in pain, at times. Alec's obligations to Amos are the thread that holds the narrative together and provide the climax of the novel. It is a novel filled with hurt, duty, chance, fate, death, and life.