The center of the novel is Juanita Hutchins, one of the world's survivors.

Her first marriage ends when she finds her husband with another woman, and he gives her the choice to believe "me or your own eyes." A second marriage ends in a similar way. Juanita works in the bar, worries about her daughter who has run off with a cocaine dealer, deals with her hypochondriac mother, and writes country songs. She watches the customers' antics with humor and tolerance, carries on a careful romance with a regular customer, Slick Henderson, and polishes her songs, never doubting her talent, only her chances.

Slick, an Exxon station mechanic, who spends most of his working days in Herb's Cafe, is Juanita's faithful admirer. His history is similar to hers: failed marriages, a marginal existence.

He is the formulator and chief practitioner of "Mankind's Ten Stages of Drunkenness," which begins...