Kathy Lazaro, a recovering addict, lives in a house she inherited. After her husband, Nick, abandons her, there is a tax issue, and she is evicted from the house. She loses her safety net and experiences many emotions related to feeling unhinged and homeless amid a mire of legalities. Her story alternates with that of Massoud Behrani, an ex-colonel of the Iranian air force who bought and inhabited “her” house in Corona, California.
Lester Burdon, a married police officer and witness to Kathy’s predicament, falls in love with Kathy and becomes determined to help her regain occupancy of her house. His infatuation with Kathy leads him to risk his job and life to support her. But unfortunately, he and Kathy demonstrate some of the darkest attitudes Americans have toward immigrants and allow their self-interests to get in the way of justice and common sense.
Behrani and his wife Nadi are incredulous when they realize how corrupt the American system appears and refuse to abandon their journey toward achieving the American dream. They’ve lost their home and status in Iran and are unwilling to release their new house without a battle. Nadi tries to reason with Kathy and is sympathetic to her cause. Her efforts are fruitless. The Behranis begin to think that Americans only respect money and proudly display status symbols such as cars but are judgmental, self-absorbed, and unlikely to respect immigrants.
All the main characters have misperceptions and are misguided in their efforts to accomplish their goals. Additionally, the American bureaucracy prohibits common decency from prevailing. As a result, each character and civil agency loses much, and the reader can intuit that there were many better ways to resolve conflicts.
