The untimely death of Chairman Mao has set in motion enormous changes in the world. The new Empress of China is a contact of Rick's, this leads to his involvement in events in China, the Vietnams, and Hong Kong. At the same time, he starts his quest for being the second amateur to complete a Grand Slam in golf. With humor, we follow a young man's coming of age in the late 1950s. Starting in the summer before his freshman year this series follows the young man through his high school life and beyond. He finds that fame and fortune cannot protect him from everything. He learns that a broken heart hurts. As the old Chinese curse says, "May you live in interesting times." This tongue-in-cheek saga is all true, give or take a lie or two.