The story centers around Mikey and Robert, a young bohemian couple in post-riot Los Angeles whose open marriage is souring. As Mikey's whole world collapses, his past - led by his dead grandmother - rushes in to fill the void of the present. Frieda, as insistent in death as in life, compels him to remember the Bronx of his youth, his first love with a Puerto Rican teenager, and his passion for his ancient culture. These memoirs force Mikey to reckon with the reality behind AIDS and the millennium-tinged emptiness he feels.