Warren Odom, a rich Southern gentleman, is left in a state of shock when his wife, Helen, leaves him unexpectedly. With Helen gone, Warren's kindhearted teenage daughter, Lucille, cares for him and tries to cheer him up. Warren slowly starts to recover, and begins a relationship with another woman, Vera Delmage. However, his life is complicated when his older daughter, Rae, arrives in town pregnant.
Set in 1969, a twelve-year-old grows up in Key West with his mother, who is paying the bills by stripping at the local topless bar. The boy finds out about her activities and tries to convince her to stop, to no avail. A local restaurant owner hires him to collect fish from a boat out in the bay, and the boy discovers that the restaurant owner is using the fish to bring drugs in to shore. He steals one load and goes about selling it so his mother can afford to quit her job.
