Madrone, the second volume in the Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers trilogy, follows Wild Blue Yonder: A Novel of the 1960s.

It’s 1969 and Nate is out of the Air Force and back in California, in the arms of Jane Chandler, the girl he left behind. Pretty, high-spirited, and totally in love with Nate, Jane takes him back to college with her, the University of California at Santa Cruz, one of the hippest campuses in the country. At first, Nate follows what seems like a set path: college, becoming a good citizen. But it doesn’t take long before he sees the system for what it is. And he doesn’t like it.

The times are rife with sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, and before long Nate is immersed in all three. Standing at the opposite perspective is Professor Gerald Iron Moccasin, who wants Nate as his student and is willing to stop at nothing to make that happen, and Jane’s father Will, who wants a decent, upright man to marry his daughter.

Caught up in all this is Nate, who has only two interests: how much he loves Jane and how badly he wants to be a writer.