The youth of a small town in mid-twentieth-century Texas search for ways to escape boredom and experience life and love.

Returning home to recover from a near-fatal heart attack, Duane discovers that he has a new neighbor: the statuesque K. K. Slater, a quirky billionairess who's come to Thalia to open the Rhino Ranch, dedicated to the preservation of the endangered black rhinoceros. Despite their obvious differences, Duane can't help but find himself charmed by K.K.'s stubborn toughness and lively spirit, and the two embark on a flirtation that rapidly veers toward...

"Lonnie grows up caught in the middle of his beloved grandfather Homer Bannon, an old-time cattleman dedicated to the values of honesty and decency, and Hud, Homer's unscrupulous stepson." *** "When Larry McMurtry's classic novel of the post-World War II era was originally published in 1961, it created a ssensation in Texas literary circles. Never before had a writer portrayed the contemporary West in conflict in such stark, realistic, unsentimental...