Moving into the building that once hid a speakeasy, Ella Hawthorne uncovers the Jazz Age story of a scandalous love triangle involving redheaded flapper Gin Kelly, a rugged Prohibition agent, and a wealthy debonair Princetonian.

1998: Discovering her banker husband has a secret life, Ella Gilbert escapes to Greenwich Village. Her musician neighbor, Hector, warns her to stay out of the basement after midnight, when noise strikes up-- laughter, clinking glasses, jazz piano, the occasional bloodcurdling scream. Back in the Roaring Twenties, the building hosted one of the city's most notorious speakeasies. 1924: Flapper Geneva "Gin" Kelly is a regular at the Christopher Club. Caught up in a raid, Gin strikes a bargain with Revenue agent Oliver Anson to catch her stepfather, Duke Kelly, one of Appalachia's most notorious bootleggers.

When she discovers her husband cheating, Ella Hawthorne impulsively moves out of their SoHo loft and into a small apartment in an old Greenwich Village building. Her surprisingly attractive new neighbor, Hector, warns her to stay out of the basement at night. Tenants have reported strange noises after midnight, laughter, clinking glasses, jazz piano, even though the space has been empty for decades. Back in the Roaring Twenties, the place hid a speakeasy. In 1924, Geneva 'Gin' Kelly, a smart-mouthed flapper from the hills of western Maryland, is a regular at this Village hideaway known as the Christopher Club. Caught up in a raid, Gin becomes entangled with Prohibition enforcement agent Oliver Anson, who persuades her to help him catch her stepfather Duke Kelly, one of Appalachia's most notorious bootleggers. As Ella discovers more about the basement speakeasy, she becomes inspired by the spirit of her exuberant predecessor, and decides to live with abandon in the city too.

Ginger Kelly wakes up in 1924 in tranquil Cocoa Beach, Florida, after fleeing to safety with disgraced Prohibition agent Oliver Anson Marshall, and her newly-orphaned young sister, Patsy. But Marshall is reinstated to the agency with suspicious haste to patrol for rumrunners on the high seas. When he promptly disappears, Gin hurries north to rescue him, only to be trapped in an agonizing moral quandary by Marshall's desperate mother. In 1998, Ella Dommerich is settled into her new life in Greenwich Village, inside the same apartment where a certain redheaded flapper lived long ago. Having quit her job at an accounting firm, cut ties with her unfaithful ex-husband, and begun a love affair with her musician neighbor, Hector, Ella's eager to piece together the history of the mysterious Gin Kelly, whose only physical trace is a series of rare vintage photograph cards for which she modeled before her disappearance. Two women, two generations, and two urgent quests will require both women's