Topanga Canyon is home to two couples on a collision course. Los Angeles liberals Delaney and Kyra Mossbacker lead an ordered sushi-and-recycling existence in a newly gated hilltop community: he is a sensitive nature writer, she an obsessive realtor. Mexican illegals Candido and América Rincon desperately cling to their vision of the American Dream as they fight off starvation in a makeshift camp deep in the ravine.

From the moment a freak accident brings Candido and Delany into intimate contact, these four and their opposing worlds gradually intersect in what becomes a tragicomedy of error and misunderstanding.

T. Coraghessan Boyle lives with his family near Santa Barbara, California. He received his Ph.D in English literature from the University of Iowa and has taught creative writing at the University of Southern California since 1977. Boyle’s many novels include World's End (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction), and Water Music. His short fiction regularly appears in such major magazines as Harper's and The New Yorker.