One sunny, Sunday morning Sarkis Levonian, a 50 year-old tailor heads toward the neighborhood newsstand to buy the Sunday paper as he has done every Sunday for the past 18 years. This time, however, he encounters 10 year-old Jack Silveri, a neighborhood friend of the family, and the Sunday papers would just have to wait. In the spirit of adventure our two unlikely heroes set out for parts unknown. A train ride takes them to  Asbury Park, a New Jersey,  beach resort where they have a series of topsy-turvy adventures, not the least of which is discovering a merry-go-round that inexplicably goes backwards instead of forwards. Other escapades make this tale a gay romp which in unexpected ways becomes a journey of self discovery for both the man and the boy.
The story covers a period of almost four days until local authorities and family members are able to track down the two runaways. The confrontatiional ending involving Sarkis, his wife, the boy's parents and the local police, pits the world of innocence and wonder against the world of adult responsibility.