A Pound of Bacon and A Fifth of Bourbon, A Key West Promise

"Aunt Lela died last night," Jake solemnly announces in his slow, charming southern accent. So begins, A Pound of Bacon and A Fifth of Bourbon, A Key West Promise.

1982. The Southernmost city is still living the consequences of the Mariel Boatlift when thousands of Cubans sailed into port after Fidel Castro allowed them to leave Cuba. The new Seven Mile Bridge recently opened, Key West announces it is seceding from the United States calling itself the sovereign nation, Conch Republic because of a blockade on the mainland searching for illegal refugees and drug smugglers and the Center for Disease Control puts a name, AIDS, to the sudden, mysterious cases of infectious respiratory illness's affecting the Gay community.

Visiting his father at the Key West V.A. hospital where Jake is drying out from alcohol abuse, Henry Roberts learns the tragic news that he must bring back to his grandmother, informing her that her sister has died. The dead demands responsibilities and expectations of the living and Nana, who has not visited Key West in ten years, must return to make arrangements for Lela's funeral and burial in the Key West Cemetery. Henry like Nana is discovering that just as people's lives change forever in death, towns can change in time, as well.