He has no family. She wishes hers would leave her alone.

Lawrence's mother has just died. With the little money he has left after paying her medical bills, he heads to Seattle to make a fresh start.

Deborah has plenty of family support, but not for moving to the big city. Her parents think she should stay on the farm and marry a nice local boy.

But both Lawrence and Deborah are determined to make their own way. And both dream of finding not just a job, but a career, a way of life. Each hopes that the risks they take will pay off in the end, but their family issues are an ongoing distraction.

And then the recession hits. Deborah loses her job. Lawrence teeters towards homelessness. Will either of them survive the streets of Seattle?

Loretta Miles Tollefson grew up in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. She moved to Seattle as a young adult, where she observed firsthand the impact of the early 1980s recession.