Robert, Cass, and Julia share a complex history going back to their college days in California-a triangle of lovers; a baby born in a marijuana field; a night of changing names and fleeing to Seattle.

There are scars from ax blades and broken glass. Uneasy truces. Prying neighbors. The threat of war. And enough vegetables growing in the yard to feed a household through the winter. Now, on the morning of Robert Hamlin's 45th birthday, in the last year of setting fire to the world, everything is about to ignite again.

How many strangers make a family? When does water flow thicker than blood? The universe is a random and violent place, after all, where souls-the lucky ones-find their way back eventually to the source of human kindness. Tucker collects his characters from the streets and his hopes for them from the stars. This is the story of human history, staged on a sixth of an acre in north Seattle.

No one had a tighter grip on the rules of life than Philip Regler-husband, father, sportsman, and the manager of security at a downtown office building in Seattle-until his fateful encounter one evening with a quirky young woman on a bicycle.

Nikki Dinsmore is British and a bit of a flake in search of a true friend. They share an interest in small revenge, and each other, but it soon drifts into more serious territory, and a dozen lives begin to unravel around them in a web of unwanted consequences.

A sexual and psychological thriller, vibrating with unexpected detail and unintended tragedy. Tucker has created a perfect storm of ordinary life gone badly off the map. You'll want to follow the rules after reading this one. All of the rules.