Using the character of Joe Baker, Troy playfully creates a simple thread of connection among all of the stories in the collection. Yet Joe Baker is not the only unifying force. Each story is set in St. Louis, especially in the southern part of the city, creating a distinctive urban flavor replete with working-class neighbourhoods, corner bars, crumbling shotgun houses, hair salons, and dances in church basements. More important than the city or Joe Baker, however, is faith - faith in the future, in what has been taught, in the responses of others, and in oneself.