Summary

The novel is set in the late 1970s, when the book was written. The novel opens at a Greyhound bus station in Oakland, California. A woman named Jamie Mays is boarding a bus with her two daughters, Miranda and Baby Ellen. Miranda is a toddler, and Baby Ellen is an infant. The bus is heading east; Jamie is leaving her husband. Four days of the bus trip pass. Jamie is very frustrated by Baby Ellen’s frequent crying and Miranda’s frequent need for attention. There is a man in a bus seat behind Jamie and her daughters. As the bus passes through Ohio, he begins making conversation with Jamie. He opens a beer and begins drinking it. He says that his name is Bill Houston. He used to be in the navy, and he is also an ex-convict. Jamie says that she has...