It is during the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 that seven-year-old Thomas Moran finds himself accidentally embarking on his dubious career as a pickpocket. He grows to manhood travelling from state to state across America through Prohibition and the Depression; into the frenzied highs of the Hootchy-Kootchy and the dying vineyards of California.
Italian and Chinese gangsters, con-artists, corrupt clergy and speak-easy bootleggers all play a part in Tommy's destiny, but it is his great love Effie who offers him the chance to change his future, and tries to save him from himself.
