Michael grows up in the Irish Channel section of New Orleans, the poor son of a firefighter and a mother from a formerly rich family in San Francisco. His mother marries his father after becoming pregnant with Michael during World War II. In Michael's youth, he often sees a strange man that his mother cannot see, often walking through the Garden District. Michael's father dies in a fire his senior year of high school. Michael and his mother return to San Francisco to live near his Aunt Vivian. In San Francisco, Michael lives a more refined life. He becomes educated and starts a construction company. He becomes rich by restoring the old houses that he loves, but he still has the build of a fireman, and the brogue of his youth. Michael has two serious relationships. One ends because he is not faithful. The second ends because his girlfriend wants to abort the child she accidentally conceives. He is distressed over the lost child and resolves not to have any other lost children.