Set in Toronto in 1933, the story of Italian and Jewish immigrants trying to make their way in their new city. Lucio, age 17, falls in love with a gorgeous Jewish radical, Ruthie the red-headed Red, several years his senior. Also included in a huge cast of characters are Dubie, Lucio's best friend, who is also in love with Ruthie and who accidentally cuts off his finger at the moment he realizes it; a veranda-full of their fast-talking immigrant parents; five unmarried Italian brothers; swastika -waving anti-Semites; an entire baseball team; an Irish priest; and a plaster saint, as well as the second-best ballplayer Toronto would ever see.