Birdy, her mother who had casually left Dave and Tawny to resume her own chorus career, gave her daughter a thirst for pleasure and the ability to render males in her vicinity temporarily oblivious to all other obligations. Dave was an "officer and a gentleman," and from him Tawny learned an odd sort of gallantry, courage, and a nonchalant willingness to take her chances with life.
Tawny soon discovered she liked after-theatre parties better than the stage, and after she had missed too many performances, she found herself out of a job. Then she tried modeling - and there were other jobs. There were men, too - one she loved another she married.
Tawny's story is a saga of the past thirty years in the greediest and most generous, the warmest and most merciless city in the world.