Uniquely combining magic realism, noir, hip hop and Chicanismo, Karen Yamashita presents an L.A. where the homeless, gangsters, infant organ entrepreneurs, and Hollywood collide on a stretch of highway struck by disaster. The Harbor Freeway crisis becomes the apex of events -- caused by an orange, which has been brought to L.A. from just north of Mazatlan, dragging with it the Tropic of Cancer.

Rafaela, caretaking Gabriel's getaway home in Mexico, discovers a dealer of human body parts and flees north, joining a performer/laborer named Archangel. Meanwhile, Gabriel, a news reporter in L.A., has been following leads m which seemingly unrelated events mysteriously unite as the homeless take up residence in abandoned Mercedes, lowriders, and Cads while an aged Asian American sansei conducts imaginary symphonies from a freeway overpass.

Buzzworm, Gabriel's connection to the streets, along with his television executive girlfriend, Emi, get caught in the middle of this mounting wildfire just as the cast of characters -- diverse as the city itself -- assemble for the final event. Tropic of Orange is an apocalypse of race, class, and culture, fanned by the media under the harsh L.A. sun. An ideal read for the 21st century.