In the 1950s, the city of Alexandria, Louisiana, is home to a black neighborhood known as Sonia Quarters. The Sonia, as its residents call it, is filled with fascinating characters-among them five teenage boys, for whom the summer of 1957 is especially memorable.

Curly, Joe, Willie T., Ray, and Harry work and hang out together, doing odd jobs for neighbors and getting into trouble. On the day of the storm-Hurricane Audrey-the five boy spend the day going around town "on safari." They meet up early in the morning and make all the stops, going to a forbidden swimming hole (where they encounter a crazy watchman), crossing a drainage pipe high above a canal, visiting the hobo jungle, and working at the zoo. The boys enjoy the day together-only to realize at the end that one of them will be leaving for good. And then, as the evening comes, so does the storm that will change the landscape of their hometown.

In this novel based on a true story, one man recalls his old neighborhood in central Louisiana and the people who lived there, going back to the places and events of one pivotal day as seen through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old boy.