Wendy Jewell

Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth maturely handles several distractions, among them: her mother's institutionalization because of mental instability; her father's female friend and his surgery; her grandfather's suicide; her lifeguarding job; her boyfriend.

Louie De Palma is a cantankerous, acerbic taxi dispatcher in New York City. He tries to maintain order over a collection of varied and strange characters who drive for him. As he bullies and insults them from the safety of his “cage,” they form a special bond among themselves, becoming friends and supporting each other through the inevitable trials and tribulations of life.