The demoralization of a generation of Yugoslav youth is the basis for this novel, among the first to emerge from that war-torn former country. As friends flee, hang themselves, or are drafted into the Yugoslav National army and suffer the effects of war-induced poverty, the unnamed narrator and his new wife, Angela, a drug dealer and user struggle to begin a life together. The couple and their circle of friends teeter on the edge of extinction, yet somehow retain their sense of community--even if only through memories and even in the face of tragedy. As their country falls in upon itself, the two heroically and passionately try to sustain life in each other.