On an autumn afternoon in 1980, Jenna Schuler finally understands why, for the past ten years, The Hans Brunner Gallery has refused to accept her paintings into their annual Emerging Artists Show. In fact, since graduating from art school with honors, she hasn't been able to interest any gallery in showing her work. Jenna has an idea of how to change all that. On the sidewalk near her studio rests a large cardboard box. She knocks on the carton and inside, finds a down-and-out Viet Nam Vet named Tanner Trusk. Nearby, Michael Katz and his albino assistant Dirtman, run an extortion ring that commandeers earnings from San Francisco panhandlers including Tanner Trusk. Katz has problems too. Someone is siphoning off part of the funds before he can get to them. Meanwhile, someone is altering the city's billboards, an urban cowboy is rising to fame, government funding for the poor has gone missing and people are falling in love. The Surrogate's characters work to resolve their problems within an atmosphere of misogyny and greed, homelessness and the scars of war, prejudice and poverty. They learn the power of artistic expression, friendship and social activism during a time that mirrors our own.