It's 1970, and elderly women homeowners are being beaten up in the South End of Boston, a poor urban neighborhood undergoing gentrification. Back-to-back neighbors Roxanne and Andréa start to investigate. Andréa has a hippie commune and a radical newspaper behind her, Roxanne a house of strange old people. Two sons of the Old South End, Police Sgt. Cox, a student of criminal justice, and Calvin, who charms everyone while pulling the wool over their eyes, figure prominently, as well as Joseph Record, a suburban developer looking to get rich, and Candy, a popular prostitute"--Page 4 of cover.