Country-club slacker Ensworth Harding is in for a surprise on his 18th birthday. "Son, his father tells him, "I give you a great gift today. See that open road? Your destiny lies down there." Ensworth is then kicked out of the car, given instructions to deliver a letter to an address in Savannah, Georgia, and told, "If I hear so much as a peep until your journey is complete, I will disinherit you."

Early into his forced march to manhood, Ensworth falls in with a bearded, unkempt, Keds-wearing gentleman who is part overgrown forest sprite, part enlightened bum, and part old-time British knight. He calls himself Lord Baltimore, and he will serve as Ensworth's guide and mentor.

In the great tradition of the picaresque novel, the two subsequently endure a series on misadventures that bring Ensworth a little closer to his destination physically but go a long way toward preparing him for it spiritually. They run afoul of a cracker sheriff, live through a hurricane, and encounter a professional boxer turned evangelist. Most of the action takes place on the Gullah island of Zapala off the Georgia coast, a place where the witch doctor is the leading community figure and where ghosts of dead slaves linger in the air.

Partly an homage to classics ranging from Don Quixote to Huck Finn, Lord Baltimore is ultimately one of those novels that creates its own universe and whose characters walk the line between the real and the fantastic.