Moses heads to New York City and, eventually, a remote island in the South Pacific, while his brother travels south to Washington, D.C., and a job "so secret that it can't be discussed here." Meanwhile, back in St. Botolphs, their father, Captain Leander, clashes with his fearsome Cousin Honora, who controls the family purse strings.

By turns tragic and deeply funny, The Wapshot Chronicle is a "richly inventive and vividly told" (The New York Times Magazine) work of fiction about one very odd family.