Bank Street is a coming-of-age story set in a time period when there were no smartphones or social media, when executives still had secretaries, and the financial industry was still dominated by white men of privilege. That world, however, is changing. A "new breed" of bank trainees who comprise a diverse group of strivers are unwittingly breaking down the old stereotypes. The novel celebrates the bonds of friendship which develop among this group of "baby boomers" who are thrust into the real world for the first time.

Jerry Flanagan, a newly minted college grad is falling in love for the first time in his life, to a fellow bank trainee, Maria DeMarco. They've only known each other four months, but fate and many things they have in common seem to have brought them together. But before he can win her hand, Jerry must overcome a startling and tragic discovery about another colleague, prevail in a test of wills against an ornery senior bank officer, and convince himself that he can live up to the expectations that others have thrust upon him. He must also emerge from the long shadow cast by his dead brother, whose image he can't shake from his mind. Jerry's childhood experiences and family circumstances forge his value system, spurring him to look out for others and to "do the right thing". He is the glue that holds this group of trainees together through their trying times.

Jerry Flanagan is a 22 year-old college graduate and native of the Jersey Shore. He starts his banking career in 1976 as one of fifteen management trainees working for a large regional bank in Newark, N.J. The country has just celebrated its Bicentennial, and the disco culture is reaching its peak. New York City is just recovering from its near collapse from bankruptcy, is shaking off the effects of the worst blackout in its history and is trying to survive the Summer of Sam.  Newark is not much better off, but at least Jerry has made new friends at the bank. His peers are smart, ambitious, competitive and eager-to-succeed early twenty-somethings who represent a cross-section of ethnic, racial, economic and social backgrounds. They discover that even though they all have their own individual career objectives and dreams, they must pull together as a team if they are to survive their first year in the workplace. In addition to helping each other out on the job, they naturally start to socialize outside the workplace.

Jerry is smitten with fellow trainee Maria DeMarco, an intelligent, beautiful, and somewhat shy young lady who shares an important secret with Jerry. In addition, Jerry endures a tragic event, the death of a fellow trainee, his close friend and colleague. This event shakes up Jerry's idyllic world, but also serves as a catalyst for solidifying his relationship with Maria. Jerry tries to prove himself as a rising star in his trainee class by uncovering a suspected misdeed by a client of the bank, aided and abetted by one of the bank's senior officers. Maria, who assists him in his "undercover" work, is caught in the cross-fire and Jerry's plan suddenly unravels. He must somehow win her back and redeem himself in her eyes before making the most important commitment of his life. 

Peter R. "Pete" Cavalier spent forty years in the banking industry, thirty-six of them at Citibank in New York City, before his retirement in 2016. Born and raised at the Jersey Shore, he graduated from Washington & Lee University in Virginia and subsequently earned an M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He lives with his wife, Marjorie, in Red Bank, New Jersey. Bank Street is his first novel.