Grandma Mimi makes the family's minimal living at a flea market she refers to as "The Show." John Martin is aiming for a better life by working assiduously at his primary job, that is, school. He urges Rox to do the same. She has however, already found better living by adding to her own, a group of loving oddballs at The Show. Not until John Martin brings home his new girlfriend, an upper middle class young woman who plans to study psychology, and meanwhile is practicing it, do either Rox or Grandma get a glimpse of the possibilities the future may offer them. Not quite rounded characters their stock stories are told with humor. But Fogelin hits a prize-winning stride when describing the tornado that hits the Show -- all but destroying it and almost everyone connected to it. It is a masterful scene so fully realized the reader can feel its windy wrath.