Sam is sixteen and an American Jew. He lies about his age to fight in WWI.
Set in 1917-1925, On the Shore follows the upheaval in an immigrant Jewish family when, without telling his family, 16-year-old Shmuel Levinson (a.k.a. Sam Lord) strives to prove his manhood, and escape his father's pressure that he become a rabbi, by enlisting in the Navy.
His smart but rebellious younger sister, Dev, mourns his disappearance, while chafing against her father's expectation that she marry instead of pursuing a career in science. Their successful uncle, Gershon Mendel, confronts failure when he ventures beyond their sheltered Lower East Side community to search for the missing boy.
On the Shore offers a poignant look at the strained relationships that trouble the multi-generation immigrant families of today as well as yesteryear.