For Pearse, an Irish-Catholic kid during the 1950s in San Francisco's North Beach, growing up is not an easy task. He serves morning mass at Saints Peter and Paul church, takes Sunday "tours" with his grandfather M.J. to Blum's Cafe for lemon-crunch cake, swims at the local Crystal Plunge..... But when tragedy hits the family, Pearse starts to doubt all he has accepted, including his religious upbringing. Outside the church doors he discovers a new, fascinating life: that of the beatniks, full of spontaneity and abandon. He is drawn especially to the unruly crowd in the Caffe Trieste, where he samples bitter espresso and listens to revolutionary poetry -- all against his parents' orders.