All over the world, people wander through flea markets searching for that one great find, and for decades, no market was more renowned than the Chelsea flea in Manhattan. Spilling over several blocks around an old garage, it was crammed with vintage dresses, rare books, ancient swords, glass eyeballs, antique Afghan rugs, West African fetish dolls, and Old Master paintings. With beguiling prose, Michael Rips takes us through this charmed world, revealing his obsession with the flea and its oddball cast of vendors, pickers, and collectors. And as the last days loom for Chelsea, he pursues the provenance of a mysterious painting that might be his one great find.