'THIS is the story of Danny and of Danny's friends and of Danny's house. It is a story of how these three became one thing... so that in Tortilla Flat if you speak of Danny's house you do not mean a structure of wood flaked with old whitewash, overgrown with an ancient untrimmed rose of Castile.'

Steinbeck's first major critical and commercial success, "Tortilla Flat" is also his funniest novel. In it we meet Danny, who inherits no less than two old houses in the seedy end of Monterey. Here he holds court for his paisano friends from the valleys, woods and beaches nearby.

Through a series of great adventures and daring deeds, they form a tight-knit group with a code of honour and a clear purpose in life. Until a stranger, the Pirate, arrives to tempt them...