This contemporary Western novel opens by setting the backgrounds of three complete strangers whose lives are changed forever when their paths cross unexpectedly in San Francisco. Monty is a young cattle rancher, needing to buy some bulls at an important auction for his 16,000-acre ranch; Laura, a young computer professional in Montreal sent to San Francisco for a training course; and Ranny, a embittered laborer living and working in San Francisco. When circumstances bring them together one night at the Cow Palace, an initial violent act carries the three along in a frightening adventure. The growing attraction between the unlikely young couple is accelerated and heightened by the escalating danger of the situation in which they find themselves. Each supports the other in trying to get through this ordeal to its final, dramatic conclusion.