A young boy's quest to avenge the death of his father leads to a coming of age story like no other. This is a wonderful portrait of America between the wars, in all her confidence and innocence, just like Sheldon himself. Sheldon Horowitz is orphaned by his thirteenth birthday. Following the death of his father, he is packed off to live with his cousins in Hartford, Connecticut, and told to keep his head down. But Sheldon has other ideas, and it seems like his two cousins do too. Before they know it, the three teenagers have become embroiled in a plot far larger than they could possibly imagine, with all roads leading back to the murder of Sheldon's father. From industrial Hartford to a bustling hotel in the Catskills, and on to the Big Apple, Sheldon will grow up into a world in which he has to make his own luck. Fortunately, he's very good at it...