After Bomber Boyd's father is executed by the state of Florida for the murder of a sheriff's deputy, he and his paternal grandmother, May, move to a Californian island to start a new life. There, May finds postcards from her son's travels to Morocco. Although May has never been herself, she talks about the scenes in the postcards as if she had. Most elusive to May are the blue men - a group of nomadic camel-riders whose skin is dyed blue from their indigo garments. Privately, May rehearses the other lies she will tell about them. In the summertime, May rents two of the rooms in the house to tourists visiting the island. May finds solace at a local bar, Lucky Kittens, and attends a local church willing to bury anyone, even May, who lies to her fellow churchgoers about her travels. Bomber explores the island and begins to make new friends. Edith, a teenage girl with a troubled home life, becomes particularly attached to Bomber and May. One night, May's purse is stolen along with the postcard from Morocco. A few days later, however, the purse is returned to her front porch complete with the postcard and cash. As the summer comes to an end and Bomber begins at his new school, Edith asks to move in with them and May obliges. May is anxious about Edith's arrival and intrusion on their home life. A few weeks later, while May was driving Bomber and Edith, she ran the car off the road causing it to flip and roll over. All three survived the crash.