A newly married young couple—she is a flutist, he is a graduate student—try to reconcile their differing backgrounds and attitudes. This leads to much merriment and a certain amount of sorrow. The book is set in New York City in the late sixties, with love-ins, riots, performance artists, and assassinations. Other characters include the husband's parents and his father's girlfriend, a stripper, a teenage blackmailer, and an orchestra conductor.