It's 1949 and South Philadelphia bursts with opportunity during the post-war boom. The Palazzini Cab Company & Western Union Telegraph Office, owned and operated by Dominic Palazzini and his three sons, is flourishing: business is good, they're surrounded by sympathetic wives and daughters-in-law, with grandchildren on the way. But a decades-long feud that split Dominic and his brother Mike and their once-close families sets the stage for a rematch. Amidst the hoopla, the arrival of an urgent telegram from Italy upends the life of Nicky Castone (Dominic and his wife's orphaned nephew) who lives and works with his Uncle Dom and his family. Nicky decides, at 30, that he wants more--more than just a job driving Car #4 and more than his longtime fiancée Peachy DePino, a bookkeeper, can offer. Nicky finds himself drawn to the stage, its colorful players, and to the determined Calla Borelli, who inherited a Shakespeare theater company from her father. Nicky must choose between the conventional life his family expects of him or chart a new course and risk losing everything he cherishes. -- Adapted from book jacket.