Penny

Penny is the main character and first person narrator of the novel. In the narrative present, Penny is 35 years old. After discovering her husband Sherman's infidelity, Penny decides to dismantle her life in Santa Cruz. When she boards the train to Santa Barbara in Chapter 1, she is abandoning the entirety of her reality in her hometown, desperate to escape her "most recent failures" there (3). After confronting Sherman about his affair, she quits her receptionist job at the dentist's office, sells her car, and decides to spend some time helping her grandparents Arlo and Pincer in Santa Barbara. She believes that assisting Pincer's accountant with Pincer's house and finances and dealing with Arlo and Doris's house and marriage will distract her from the conflicts in her personal life.

Not long after leaving Santa Cruz, however, Penny begins to realize that her depression will stay with her wherever she goes...