College dropout Scott Sanderson sits in a rural Florida holding cell in the middle of the night, awaiting a hearing the following morning. He has ventured from Los Angeles on his motorcycle to see the country before the responsibilities of post-college adulthood ensnare him. Ignoring his draft status, the journey takes him first to Mardi Gras, then to Florida, where his arrest abruptly curtails the adventure. Faced with jail time, he reluctantly follows the judge's orders and joins the navy. This solidifies his notion that life is stacked against him and that the generation in charge has rigged the world in its favor. In his new situation, Scott deals with many of the issues he left behind: his relationship with his father and his family, his commitment to the service, his relationships with women, and his future.
Interwoven with historic events of the era and the lives of his peers both at home and in the navy, A Walk-on Part in the War follows Scott on his quest to find direction in a fractured and confused America. A modern-day odyssey, this novel captures the waning optimism and the rapid pace of individual and social change that overtook mid-1970s America.