When his father, dies, Andy Scalabenfro inherits a 1959 Buick Electra 225. A massive Buick. With holes on the side. The high point of America's love affair with the road. Andy and his wife Christi are barely doing all right in their life in Providence, Rhode Island. He's lost his job and is filling in by substitute teaching. Their teenage kids, Henry and Morgan, talk to them a little less than most teenage kids. Christi is a CPA, who has never really gotten over the one lost opportunity of her life. Andy decides that they should use the summer to take a car trip to California, see the Pacific Ocean, have lunch and then come back. "You can pick the restaurant," he tells Christi. No one wants to go, naturally. So Andy makes a list of PROs and CONs. There are a gazillion CONs. But under PROs there is only one item: "Who Are We?" They're off. Reluctantly. But off, nonetheless. For about twenty minutes. Then the car breaks down and they have to pull off the highway in Johns Towne, Rhode Island. And they can't leave. They can't go home because they rented their house for the month. And they can't get the car fixed because parts for a 1954 Buick are not easy to find. So they check into a sleazy motel for what they think will be a day or two. They are the only motel patrons that actually sleep overnight in the rooms. The place is a front for a revolving brothel. As the days mount up, revulsion turns to fascination. The kids discover a bowling alley and become league champs.Christi discovers an odd bond with one of the women at the motel. And Andy re-discovers his affinity for good Cognac. Adventures follow. Salvation may be at hand. Oddly, everything seems to focus on Detroit. Underneath it all, there are flashbacks to Andy and Chrisit's families-as colorful characters come to life in their pasts and reveal a lot about their present. Then there is Agnes, the octogenarian who Andy has hired to type his handwritten manuscript. They never meet, but converse through notes in Andy's writing. Slowly, Agnes and Andy find a way to do what has to be done. Electra 225 is a literate story-a warm, episodic, humorous saga of human beings on the road. Even if the road doesn't go too far.