Fourteen years after meeting at Camp Runnymede in the Texas Hill Country, three friends live and work in nearby Denim. Gabrielle is always early, Sandalin is always on time, and Merry is always late. In a way, that's all you need to know about them. Sandalin Pell's life is precise. Her music is very much in demand. She and her concert harp travel around central Texas, playing for weddings, churches, and fashion shows, and auditioning for orchestras. Only a flair for organization keeps Sandalin's tight schedule running. Her life is completely in control, except for the orchestra chair that eludes her. Merry Weston couldn't be more different. She runs the Denim Rape Crisis Center, a job filled with schedule-bursting emergencies. That doesn't bother her; she's never had a schedule anyway. With grit and tenacity she keeps everything clattering along, only a little bit late. One of these days, though, Merry will have to think about tomorrow. And Gabrielle Adelade sits back and observes. She likes to arrive early, and watch things develop. That suits her employer, the Lone Star Review magazine: it makes her the best reporter on staff. In the long run, though, is observing enough? If they're that deep in their ruts, are they due for a change? Even small towns experience the violence that plagues society, and in The Mark of Abel three women depend on each other as they learn to deal with it.