The Borskys are a Jewish family living in the world of an immigrant Chicago neighborhood in the 1940's. As the parents deal with all the problems of life in a new and strange culture, circumstances send the family into a tailspin. Life will never be the same for them again, as the novel follows the twists and turns that their lives take, set against the turbulent times of postwar America. All the while, Evelyn faces her growing up years, as the novel unflinchingly takes her from childhood to young womanhood, from high school to young marriage and beyond.