As the day, November 1, 1993, progresses from dawn to dusk, so do the lives of the characters beginning with the births of the principal characters, Hazel and Spencer. Strangely, all events in the story occur on that date. But the story does not follow a straightline progression but parallel courses (just like the characters' lives), because Beard switches cleverly from pivotal past events of each character's life (except for one) back to the present until the story's climax at which time all the lives intersect. This device enables us to watch the characters' lives develop so we can learn how they got to the present (and their current predicaments). Ultimately I found each character sympathetic.Overall, this is a book of effective, entertaining writing that enabled me to ignore a muggy gray Saturday.