In "One Foot in California" two buddies impulsively drop out of college to flee humdrum Miami. In this coming of age story, both suffer America's back alley setbacks and hazards. They are robbed, remanded, and ridiculed. For money to California, Herb Kale lucks into a marketing job in New Orleans. Without work, Danny Newcroft joins the navy. Herb reinvents himself as a wealthy socialite. He lies his way into a bittersweet affair with a Southern girl from a prominent family. Assigned to Mississippi, he escapes jail and returns to New Orleans. After a terrible heartbreak in Louisiana, he becomes a librarian in a Texas town with oddball teachers, Nazi sympathizers, wild divorcees, and gun carrying rivals. When the friends reunite in San Francisco, Herb discovers that Danny is gay. Contention gribs the friendship-Herb wants Danny straight and Danny wants Herb gay. Before the conversions are realized, Herb's buddy is diagnosed with an unknown virus and his health deteriorates. Herb serves as a care giver. Life becomes rough and the two men face life and death decisions. "All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated . . ." John Donne/