From the author of The Home and Falling in Love and Other Misadventures comes a novel of improbable choices and imperfect people. What could possibly go wrong? In the Texas Gulf coast in the 1970s, a tavern named The Party House hosts an eclectic clientele of hippies, rednecks, tourists, and others, along with their schemes, dreams, and relationships. Into the craziness steps Pete, a serious graduate student arriving on the island to conduct field research. He quickly succumbs to the drinking, dancing, gambling, and intimacies associated with the summertime beach life and wintertime bar life. His five-year sojourn includes an encounter with an outlaw biker gang, attempts to play pimp for a friend, surviving a hurricane, and confrontations with drunks, an angry father, a massive gathering of sharks, and poisonous jellyfish. Island life includes a young female pool hustler, an all night peyote party, and an assortment of has been and wanna be characters. Ultimately, Pete must choose between a demanding academic career or continue the raucous and comfortable lifestyle he has come to embrace.