A bildungsroman evocative of the works of Edna Ferber, "K" is the tale of a middle-class city neighborhood and its residents, an urban version of Grovers Corners. We meet Sidney, a young woman who wants to be a nurse, and her family, neighbors and lodgers, among them her Aunt Harriet, who yearns to be more than a simple dressmaker; Joe, the boy who loves her; Dr. Ed, the selfless G.P. across the street, and his younger brother, Max, a handsome, philandering surgeon; her friend Christine, about to marry a wild Society youth; Tillie, the 40ish boardinqhouse waitress who's sorely tempted by a life of sin; and the mysterious K., the shabby tenant who is more than he seems.