Playground Zero

1968. It's the season of siren songs and loosened bonds--as well as war, campaign slogans, and assassination. Ten-year-old Alice Rayson has never thought of herself as a rebel, but when her father, Washington lawyer Tom Rayson, moves their family to Berkeley, everything changes. Her father soon busies himself earning his spurs chasing a sexy horsewoman through the Marin County woods; her mother, meanwhile, joins a peace party that's running a Black Panther for president. Feeling abandoned by her family and confused in her newly integrated school, Alice embraces the moment and falls in with Jim and Valerie Dupres, whose anti-government dad helped found People's Park. Jim and Valerie learn the ropes on Telegraph Avenue, cadging meals and camping out in People's Park. But when the park falls to government forces, they find themselves confronting tear gas-spewing helicopters and National Guardsmen. As Alice's family and school fade away in a tear gas fog, the countercultural world of Berkeley brings ambiguous freedom to all who occupy its homes--and streets.