Set in the late 1950s, this provocative novel follows Adrianne, a Houston native who has recently arrived in Manhattan and wanders the city having indiscriminate sex with strangers. She soon falls in with Alfredo, a Cuban-American artist who coerces her into prostitution in order to support his lifestyle and who treats her with increasing levels of brutality. Adrianne must ultimately rely on reserves of an inner strength to claw her way out of her desperate circumstances. This gripping exploration of a young woman's search for love and self in the big city is titillating and psychologically haunting in equal measure.