They are bound together by geography but opposed to each other in every way. Their battles are threefold: within each community, between each other and together versus outsiders and the onslaughts of nature. Even a fictional community has to have some roots, so the towns have been located where there are no towns at a mythical beach somewhere between the cities of Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, probably the one place where geology and geography would never let it happen. The people of Rockport and Willow Glen and their problems are unique to an imagined place, but not atypical. The World Series Earthquake is a fitting prelude to battles witnessed by attorney Angela Adams and architect Vince Correlli from within the seaside community of Las Arenas. The two learn to live with the sometimes odd and quirky actions of their neighbors.