[5] The book tells about Windham growing up in Atlanta during the Depression, as his family, which had once been prosperous, gradually becomes impoverished.

[3] The Victorian home of the family, a remainder of their prosperous past, is demolished, and young Donald keeps a piece of stained glass as a reminder of "fading grandeur".

[3] The book covers Windham's childhood, through his graduation from high school and his decision to move to New York City thereafter.

[7] It evokes "with faint but unmistakable nostalgia the Atlanta of the early decades of the modern century.

[1][2] The success of this work allowed Windham to publish the collection of short stories The Warm Country.