Janet Campbell Hale's spare, honest writing and unique realism create haunting worlds reflecting the difficulties of the women's lives in her stories - women on the run. These six stories focus on the transition of cultural roots and a loss of sense of community: women who find themselves involved in one night stands leading to pregnancy in an era preceding abortion, substance abuse or gambling in an effort to flee a harsh life of poverty, and the bitter rejection felt by the aged in a society no longer respecting extended family ties.