flower power, black power, and woodstock animated the late '60s. but what of the early '60s? what of the golden years animated by america's thousand days of camelot as john kennedy presides over the white house, boldly turns back the soviets by his naval quarantine of cuba, and launches the peace corps? idealism flowers, sweeping up young roman proud whose journey to the new frontier goes from columbia university to peace corps training at cornell university, then on to service in south america's atacama desert. along the way, long island debutante regina, a barnard college pre-med, and ellen, a smith college scholar-athlete recruited by the peace corps, shape roman's formative years - by jilting him. returning to new york in the mid-'60s, roman signs on to the war on poverty with a more subdued vision of life and work. decades later, nadia, a once-aspiring ballerina, flees russia to washington, rouses roman, now a widower, out of his apathy until he's on the verge of proposing - only to become jilted again. yet, by spring 2005, unbeknownst to each other, regina, ellen, and nadia take turns dazzling roman with their newly rekindled passion. avenged and reveling in their ardor, the gleeful, wayward widower betrays their trust. will he care to retrieve his honor, choose to stay true to one woman again, and give thought to what he should do with the rest of his life?