In Ordinary Springs, Florida, what's real seems to shimmer and change in the summer heat. It was that way for Dory Gamble the summer the strangers moved in next door - the thin, sick man dependent on his beautiful city-sophisticate wife. Dory and her father had always looked out for each other. Now, when she sees the way he looks at the new neighbor, Dory feels rage hot as the sidewalks at noon.