This novel begins in Cuba as teenage baseball sensation Enrique Urbino is waiting in a boat to flee to Haiti. Cuba is depicted as a dangerous, hostile place lacking hope. Nixon refers to it as a "mirage."

Urbino crosses a violent sea to Haiti where he trustingly follows his guide through thick jungle then hides in an abandoned fort on Bonita Beach. The chill and fear he experiences as he waits for his great uncle causes him to question if his dreams will ever become possible.

The majority of the novel is set for one week during spring break on a Norwegianlicensed cruise ship in the Caribbean. Rosie and Glory fly from west Texas to Miami, Florida. The trip is trailblazing for Rosie, who declares that she has never been out of Texas or seen the ocean—which is difficult to believe because her grandparents are wealthy...