Caron Andante - swashbuckling hero, fiercely loyal friend, passionate poet, relentless warrior, and fearless in all endeavors save one - love. When he falls for Rose Pascal, the only woman a man such as him could really love, he is paralyzed by his own self-consciousness. Cursed with an exceptionally large nose, he can't imagine how she could ever love him, an idea reinforced by her infatuation for Chris Navarro, a bombardier student of Andante's who possesses the chiseled look of a Greek god but the wit of a rock. An analogue of Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac," Andante's story is set during World War II, moving from the fictional base and town of Lake Gaston, Louisiana to post-D-Day France, the novel moves at brisk pace as Caron Andante's unrequited love for Rose plays out.