Decadence pervades LaBrava, the action of which takes place primarily in South Miami Beach, Florida. There is a seedy Art Deco hotel, most of whose permanent residents are elderly widows; a county crisis center that gives alcoholics a place to dry out; a freelance photographer (a Secret Service dropout) who specializes in the grotesque after the manner of Diane Arbus; a Murf the Surf kind of hustler who preys upon defenseless women; a Cuban, boat-lifted from a Castro prison, who is a go-go dancer and car thief; and a former actress who uses the plot of one of her old films to fashion a real crime. All have been affected by, and have come to terms with, their grim milieus, for better or worse.