In this autobiographical story of the vagabond fevers of two beautiful half-sisters, Kerouac embellishes the themes that dominate her first two novels: the pursuit of the absent father through impulsive couplings with abusive lovers, the solace of family and friendship, and the hunger for transforming experience. Although the sisters hurry from upstate New York to the Bahamas, from London, Venice, and Athens to Maine, Oregon, and Maui, the sisters enjoy none of the glamour that such an itinerary suggests. Rather, in each episodic encounter, Kerouac re-creates the anxiety, exhaustion, and makeshift camaraderie of real travel and invokes the essential domestic rituals that everywhere serve to reclaim continuity from rootlessness. The connections to Kerouac's own life and final days are put into context by essays from lovers and friends, Kerouac chroniclers and relatives, and other literary and Beat luminaries.