Against a backdrop of racial tensions over four decades, the book explores three intertwined lives: Joshua, a young black man struggling to overcome crime, drugs, and despair; Rachel, the daughter of a Hassidic rabbi, wrestling pangs of rebelliousness; and Paul, a privileged Long Islander, yearning to escape his troubled past. Culminating with the 1991 Crown Heights riots, this story explores the tensions between two communities in close physical proximity, but still worlds apart.