Ragtime, bebop and rock n’ roll: often, the many rhythms of music mirror the vicissitudes of our own lives. Spanning three decades of the diverse musical history in America, together two motherless boys, Nate Royce and Gregory Solomon, grow, desire, succeed, grieve and love the same woman.
Jointly, they also conquer Tin Pan Alley, struggle through the Great Depression, celebrate birth, mourn the dead and allow the technological leaps of radio, records, 8-tracks and cassettes to unravel their once shared musical cosmology. Along the way they encounter Irving Berlin, whose piano has a lever to change keys, Duke Ellington, who bemoans the paralysis of his entire band due to stage fright, Count Basie, who has a knack for swindling contracts and the Sex Pistols, who have a knack for swindling a record label.
Through the culture-shaping transitions of music, Nate’s son, Ben Royce, follows in the footsteps of his father and Gregory—though in a different way—setting out to practice entertainment law during the critical years when jazz evolved, big bands faded and rock n’ roll emerged. Coming of age in the turbulent sixties and eventually abandoning the music business to join the ACLU during the heat of the Civil Rights Movement, Ben’s love for one woman, a svelte redhead named Rickie Taylor, embodies the great love once shared by both his father and Gregory.
It is through love and loss, both past and present, that Ben and his father's best friend Gregory finally confront Nate Royce’s most crippling issue: determining how much to risk, balanced against what to settle for in life.
