The novel's subject, A. J. Bluehart, a lightning rod for bad luck on the day of his birth in 1920, lives with his mother in a Chicago whorehouse until his sixteenth birthday, when the women of the house decide on a special birthday gift only they can give. Bluehart moves on to a lifetime of peculiar adventures, some fortunate, some not.

At the other end of his life Bluehart's daughter, Seven, sorts through her fathers memoirs, searching for what makes him a chubby, smiley Buddha-man, sitting on his bed, accordion on his lap, leaning against the wall with the pictures making a halo around his head, laughing and talking, talking and laughing. She finds a surprising answer.

Bluehart's story is one surprise after another, a parade of the unexpected. His daughter's story, the novel's frame for presenting the father's memories, turns out to be full of surprises itself. Amusing and poignant, father and daughter, the stories advance the idea that freedom is a necessary ingredient for life to be worthwhile.

Bluehart is Vickers second novel. His distinctive story-telling style blends wit and passion to produce a gratifying reading experience.