"Dan Shaper, bachelor, translator for the San Francisco courts, is a man who has worn the same raincoat for fifteen years, eats the same breakfast in the same coffee shop every morning, occasionally sees a few longtime male friends and vaguely regrets a handful of former female lovers. In the sixties and seventies, Shaper was where the action was (San Francisco, where else?) and joined in the festivities, if moderately. But that was a long time ago.".

"There are those who have drug flashbacks, even years after they've been using. Shaper has escaped those, thanks to his moderation. But into his relatively Spartan life now comes a flashback of another kind - a nineteen-year-old daughter whose existence he never suspected. Her mother was an overnight acquaintance whom with some effort he manages, barely, to recall. The daughter's name is Amanda, and her phone call turns Shaper's drab-gray existence into dazzling Technicolor."--BOOK JACKET.