These interlocking stories begin with foundation tales of the migration of JJ, his wife Naomi, and their son Otis from their chaotic family beginnings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to their settlement in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the 1920s. Stories in the second section treat Otis's coming of age amid the shifting fortunes of his family and friends. The third section considers events ranging from whimsical to tragic that occur in other peoples' lives in...