Saul Karoo, ein reicher, übergewichtiger, kettenrauchender Alkoholiker, ist einer der gesuchtesten scriptdoctors in Hollywood. Er flickt und schreibt missglückte Filmskripts um. Privat quälen ihn genau die Probleme, die er hartherzig aus den langweiligen Drehbüchern herausstreicht. Doch als er einen neuen Auftrag annimmt, verändert eine zufällige Begegnung sein Leben. Karoo, wie verwandelt, versucht zu neuem Glück zu finden und beginnt nicht nur, am Film herum zu schnipseln, sondern wie ein Skriptflicker – gleichsam gottähnlich – ins wahre Leben einzugreifen.
A colorful cast of Miami residents and visitors navigates their daily lives, both legal and illegal. Officer Nestor Camacho patrols Biscayne Bay as the police confront the city's unique cultural landscape, where diverse communities have taken charge at the ballot box. This melting pot is filled with hard cases who refuse to blend in. Among them are the Cuban mayor, the black police chief, a young journalist with a muckraking ambition, and his Yale-educated editor from the Miami Herald. There's also an Anglo sex-addiction psychiatrist and his beautiful Latina nurse, Magdalena, alongside his star patient, a porn-addicted billionaire. A status-obsessed Haitian professor, who wishes his daughter Ghislaine could "pass" for white, complicates matters further; she is the love of Nestor's life, while her younger brother embodies a different reality. The narrative includes crack dealers in the neighborhoods, clueless art collectors spending millions at the Miami Art Basel Fair, and the chaotic interactions between black drug dealers and Cuban cops. Spectators at the Columbus Day Biscayne Bay Regatta seek only the night’s orgy, while ex-New Yorkers at an "Active Adult" condo and a group of shady Russians add to the vibrant tapestry of this dynamic city.
Piata avenue v New Yorku je skvelá adresa, bývajú tam, prípadne sa o to usilujú hrdinky tohto románu. Schiffer Diamondová, herečka tesne po štyridsiatke, všetkých urputne presviedča, že v prípade žien, ktoré majú štýl v krvi, vek nehrá úlohu. Rozmaznaná a sebaistá Lola sa snaží stoj čo stoj dostať medzi obyvateľov Piatej avenue 1. Annalisa do vyšších kruhov patrí, no v podstate nimi opovrhuje. Zatrpknutú Mindy, ženu neúspešného spisovateľa, prestáva baviť úloha živiteľky rodiny. A v „jednotke“ žije aj krásna a inteligentná Enid, ktorú jej stĺpčeky plné klebiet vyšvihli až do apartmánu na najvyššom poschodí, odkiaľ všetko vyzerá trochu inak ako v bežnom svete...
