Radio actor Iron Rinn (born Ira Ringold) is a big Newark roughneck blighted by a brutal personal secret from which he is perpetually in flight. An idealistic Communist, a self-educated ditchdigger turned popular performer, a six-foot six-inch Abe Lincoln look-alike, he marries the nation's reigning radio actress and beloved silent-film star, the exquisite Eve Frame (born Chava Fromkin). Their marriage evolves from a glamorous, romantic idyll into...

At 23, ambitious Nathan Zukerman has had four stories published, received a complimentary profile in Saturday Review, and has alienated his family with his unflattering biographical bent. When well-known author E.I. Lonoff invites Nathan to his secluded New England home, the budding young writer hopes to learn from a master. Instead of inspiration, however, Nathan encounters a man whose self-absorption borders on egomania and a hauntingly mysterious...