Los Alamitos is a coming-of-age story. Set in New Mexico in the late 1960s, a small town university journalism student meets and falls for a bohemian music student from New York City. They share interests in rock and classical music and politics, but the beautiful violinist is dedicated to a solo career in both music and life.
With the political turmoil and music of the 1960s as a backdrop, Tristan and Charlotte begin a tentative relationship as they are drawn into student protests over an attempt to ban sexually explicit poetry and opposition to the Vietnam War. But Charlotte's attraction to a militant Weather Underground organizer threatens their relationship.
Familiar names of the era are also central to the storyline: land grant activist Reies Lopez Tijerina, Dr. Martin Luther King, U.S. Senators Bobby Kennedy and Fred Harris, President Richard Nixon, poets Sylvia Plath and Lenore Kandel, and rock singer Jim Morrison of the Doors.
But the underlying story of Los Alamitos is Tristan's other love interest – New Mexico. Arriba Nuevo México!
