Suzie Holtz, the heroine of this worldly and vivid novel, is the daughter of neurotic East European Holocaust survivors who unsuccessfully attempt to make a life in Israel before immigrating to the United States just as she is riding on the cusp of sexual, emotional, and physical maturity. A collision between the parents' old-world views and those of a daughter with a hunger for autonomy and identification with American peers inevitably follows, creating a family crisis both familiar and tragic. But Suzie is dealt a further and utterly unexpected blow: She gradually develops secondary male characteristics, for which she lacks coping mechanisms and that soon affect every facet of her life. They rapidly destroy her self-esteem, and become the defining force in all her relationships.