1920's

Students learn of the Return to Normalcy; automobile culture; flappers and the Revolution in Manners and Morals; the consumer revolution and rise of advertising; motion pictures; the Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age; social polarization; Prohibition; rebirth of the KKK; the Scopes Trial; the Golden Age of sports.

A bitter rivalry ensnares Cordelia, Letty, and Astrid in a dangerous feud played out in the speakeasies of Manhattan and on the great lawns of Long Island.

In the spring of 1929, eighteen-year-old Cordelia Grey and her stage-struck friend Letty Larkspur run away from their small Ohio town to seek their fortunes in New York City and soon find themselves drawn into situations and relationships, particularly with the dazzling Astrid Donal, that change their lives forever.