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Abstract
This collection of eight short stories involves the same characters in a family as they relocate from the West Coast to the Southern United States. Elaine and her children, Tina, Teddy and Sanders, travel with their step-father from California to North Georgia during the first few stories to reestablish their lives in the South. The strain of relocation exacerbates familial conflicts, and following Elaine's divorce from her husband Hammond, bonds between characters begin to disintegrate in the middle stories until only Elaine and her daughter remain together at the end to begin rebuilding the family. The collection examines regional cultural differences, disintegration of the family through lack of communication, and relationships with characters outside the family who intervene both helpfully and harmfully, as the family rebuilds itself.