It is in San Diego, the city of perpetual springtime, that newcomer Billy Considine puts aside guilt and the indecision of youth. Ahead are the seasons of a man's life. Ahead are four decades of tumult and adventure, pain and joy. Ahead is the maturing of America. It is 1958. Billy is a rookie San Diego cop. Alone and lonely, Billy begins writing letters to his older brother, Jerome, sharing his life on the streets. His life as a new man. The letters continue for thirty years. As Billy grows in writing skill, in understanding, in competence as a police officer, his letters become more polished and insightful. The letters follow Billy through the police academy, patrol work, courtship, life on the vice squad, marriage, promotion to homicide. Billy's journey takes him through the civil rights movement and race riots, the student revolts of the 1960s, the counterculture/anti-war 1970s, the dynamic growth of San Diego and of the American economy in the 1980s. Billy matures as America matures. It is not always a pretty process.