This story opens Thanksgiving day and closes a year later on the same day. In a year the life of Harold Silver changes in ways hard to explain.

The story begins with Harold's brother George, the high-earning TV executive, plowing his car into another leaving two dead and an orphaned child. A few pages later, George murders his wife, when he breaks out of a hospital psych ward, makes his way home - his green hospital gown flapping in the wind - to find his wife in bed with brother Harold.

Harold narrates Franzen-like tale of life in the suburbs that pokes fun at modern American life - healthcare, education, prison, politics - nothing is off limits and nothing is too far-out. At one point Harold is playing laser-tag with the swinger's club; another he's accused of participating in an international arms deal gone bad. There's even cameo appearances by hysterical-realism grandfather, Don DeLillo.

In the end, Harold moves from his gray, drab life to one that is full, meaningful, and quite colorful. The story is hilarious, and full of out-there behaviors by each of the characters who move into Harold's life.