The Jewel Box

Back in the Sixties while Motown music filled the airwaves, naïve Jill Novak acknowledged her knack for choosing losers when boring Husband Number One vanished, leaving her to support their two-year-old. Afflicted with planning deficit disorder, the perpetual daydreamer soon morphs from small town Jill to sophisticated big city Cherie, but a new name does not a new life bring. In 1969 Houston, Cherie encounters a rogue's gallery of strange, wonderful and sometimes dangerous characters; a suave salesman who turns brutal, a drop-dead gorgeous transsexual, a hairy cop who incorporates fondling girls into his job, a walleyed girl whose peepers inevitably park on men's private parts, a wannabe Mafia hit man, and a warped neighbor whose desire for friendship borders on stalking. But it is two distinctly different men—a middle-age gregarious gambler and a twenty-something gruff intellectual—who jump on board and share Jill-Cherie's rollicking roller coaster ride into the 21st Century and womanhood.

Filled with moments from the laid-back Age of Aquarius through the materialistic, high-speed Internet era, The Jewel Box music and references to the times/political climate reflect the rocky terrain of the country (and subsequent growth) parallel with that of its main character. This romantic family saga reminds us true love rarely runs smooth, true friendship never wavers, occasionally everyone screws up, and sometimes slipping off track leads to profound appreciation as we approach our destination.