The spirit of aloha is found in Hawaii-s fresh ocean air, the flowers, the trade winds . . . the natural beauty that smooth the struggles of daily life. In 1922 Honolulu, unhappy in the adoptive family that-s raised her, Dolores begins to search for that spirit early on-and she begins by running away at sixteen to live with her newlywed friend Maria.
Trying to find her own love, Dolores marries a young Portuguese man named Manolo His large family embraces her, but when his drinking leads to physical abuse, only his relative Alberto comes to her rescue-and sparks a passion within Dolores that she hasn-t known before. Staunch Catholics can-t divorce, however; so, after the Pearl Harbor attack, Dolores flees with her two daughters to California, only to be followed by both Manolo and Alberto. In California, Manolo-s drinking problems continue-and Alberto-s begin. Outraged that yet another man in her life is turning to the bottle for answers, Dolores starts to doubt her feelings for
