By the shores of Gitchee Gumee

Evangeline Slivenowicz and her five children - from five different fathers - live together in a tiny trailer by the slightly impure waters of Lake Gitches Gumee. At nineteen, Maud, the novel's heroine, is obsessed with sex, power, money, and how to get every single thing she wants, in a way that - although lacking any morality - never involves much violence ... or four-letter words.