Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Frankie is a gambler. In 1960, shortly before his daughter Dolores is born, Frankie has a half partnership in a diner. Frankie's friend Salvatore is his partner and the cafy's cook, but Frankie would rather gamble and greet the customers than cook. Frankie and Mary have five children, all daughters, so Mary is reluctant to tell Frankie when she becomes pregnant again. Mary does not tell Frankie until she is nearly six months along. In response, Frankie starts a nightly card game in a room in their apartment above the diner in hopes of making extra money from the luck he believes this new child will bring him.

On the day Dolores is born, Frankie enters a big card game with a man named Joe Medora. When Dolores is born, Salvatore's wife mistakenly believes Mary has had a boy and calls the...