In the burgeoning postwar West, two outsiders are torn between the constraints of convention and the demands of their private selves. Muriel is a reluctant transplant from Kansas, restless within her new marriage, wiping tables at a San Diego horsemen's barroom - until one day she sneaks off to the racetrack and wins enough to embolden larger dreams. Her husband's brother, Julius, a closeted card sharp with a mysterious past, haunts the casinos and secret dance halls of Las Vegas as tourists watch atomic tests from the rooftops. When Julius's lover, Henry, is run out of town, Julius heads south to search for him in the plazas and dives of Tijuana, trading one city of dangerous illusions for another. What follows is a story of astonishing emotional impact - a novel that captures the power that secrets can hold over a life, even as it affirms the value of rebellion and risk, of love and difference.