Hank Nimbee, proprietor of Nimbee's Bar and Grill, was set to win this year's 4th of July debate if Satchmo Pencil was a no-show. Shirley, the prettiest girl in all of Plumas County had always been the prize. Now, her destiny was up for grabs. In 1954, there were few options for a girl born illegitimate in Lake Almanor. Plump church-going girls became wives and mothers, which left Shirley out in the cold. She was free, white, and over twenty-one, but without her job as head waitress at Nimbee's Shirley's choices were mighty slim. She hadn't minded it when Mo took part in the annual debate. Thought boys would be boys, so let them have their fun. But this year she felt like a slab of meat up for auction: the betting, the gossip, and the town merchants making a big to-do over Mo's disappearance. At first, she thought Mo was on one of his detours, now she wasn't so sure. Leroy James, the dimwitted preacher's son, held the answer to her troubles in the last hour. Would he tell her in time? Would old indiscretions come home to roost? It was all in Leroy's hands.