Zoyd Wheeler

Zoyd Wheeler is an unemployed former hippie surfer from the 1960s who in 1984 lives in Northern California near the town of Vineland. He lives in a house of his own construction with his 14-year-old daughter, Prairie. He makes money performing odd carpentry jobs and by selling crayfish caught in the creeks around his home to restaurants. He also receives regular mental disability checks from the government.

As part of his deal to receive the checks, Zoyd is required to make a public display of his insanity at least once a year. For several years his chosen act of insanity has been to smash through a large window of a local business while being taped by local news stations.

Zoyd was briefly married to Frenesi Gates, who is Prairie's mother, but was divorced when Prairie was a small child. He still obsesses about how he was treated by...