Chapter 1 Summary

Astrid Magnussen is a twelve-year-old girl, living with her mother, Ingrid, in Los Angeles. Her mother is a beautiful woman with long, white blond hair who dreams of a carefree, refined life but is grounded by the reality of a teenage daughter and a low-paying job. Astrid is in awe of her mother and longs to be like her someday but is also terrified that she might leave her. She feels guilty that she is the anchor that is keeping her mother from living the life of her dreams.

It is the time of the oleander, a flower that blooms when the hot Santa Ana winds blow in from the desert. It is the beginning of summer. Ingrid meets Barry Kolker at a poetry reading. She first dismisses him as a "fat goat of a man," but he continues to pursue her until...