Kinetic Blue is set in the 1980s, exploring the cultural aspects of the decade through characters and events, beginning with the song "Call Me" by Blondie as a cultural marker. The events of the decade show that a protagonist, no matter how much an iconoclast, cannot be divorced from his time and place. The first part, "Call Me," describes Hans' high school swim team's routine and an encounter with a teacher over the spelling of Barbra Streisand's name in a computer array. We meet Nielsen, whose unique style interests Hans, as well as his best friend Doug, who fancies himself as a sort of Indiana Jones protégé and takes an antiquated approach in their attempts to double-date. Hans and his friends come of age in Orange County, where they hang out at the Huntington Beach Pier, high school “Ska Club” dances where the “Punks” battle the “Mods,” KROQ nights at the Kingdom of the Dancing Stallions, and the Balboa Fun Zone. The second part, "Convertible Boys and Mercedes Girls," is set at Pepperdine, where the students who are often the children of famous and well-off, including Sushi Pat from Thailand and underclassman Dyen, whom Hans’ tutors until Dyen takes a break from school for plastic surgery. These experiences are set against the Reagan years and the Achille Lauro hijacking, the Challenger disaster, and the Live-AID concert. Hans’ best friend is Lisette, who helps him find a way home when they are stranded at an all-row party by her roommate Kaitlyn. Hans also meets Mels, from the “Preppydom” of La Jolla, who continually struggles with Rheumatoid Arthritis. In the third part, "The World’s Longest Running Beauty Pageant," Hans attends law school on scholarship, winning his mock trial, a sexual harassment civil suit, after choosing his boyfriend Adamski to play the“harasser” and Kaitlyn as his witness. However, Hans and Adamski find protestors disrupting their visit to the very first Orange County Pride Festival. In the epilogue, Hans and Lisette attend Mel’s funeral when she passes away.