As his marriage disintegrates in a welter of suspicion and accusation, Peter begins to discover a homosexual identity of which he was previously unaware. He tries to escape his past and recreate his identity by fleeing to America. There he is drawn into the bleak sub-culture of lower Manhattan and at the same time into a devouring relationship with Joe, a black actor. The two of them leave on a daredevil trip, running drugs through the Southwest, a trip which takes on the mysterious contours of pursuit and self-destruction. Edmund White US novelist writes: "David Clive Price has extracted the heart of New York and delivered it alive and throbbing on the page. This is the underworld that few tourists ever see. David Clive Price has seen it with great clarity."