"Ever since sixteen-year-old Gabe Strickland can remember, his father, Roman, has believed in the sale: that magical moment on the customer's porch, the housewife nodding thoughtfully, the deal about to close.". "But with each dizzying success comes an equally memorable failure, and Gabe's mother, Gladys, has grown tired of waiting for a life where the bills get paid on time and the furniture is yours to keep. So in the summer of 1975 she leaves Roman to live with his brother Dutch, a wealthy car dealer as steady as Roman is unpredictable. Confident he can win Gladys back, Roman recruits Gabe for one grand scheme after another. Gabe finds his own truth somewhere between Roman's quixotic dreaming and Gladys's newfound stability; and he learns that love is, ultimately, the one thing that can't be bought or sold."--BOOK JACKET.