While Michael had a crush on Carol throughout high school, Carol was more interested in quarterbacks and power forwards. Stanford-bound Michael had no interest in the NFL or NBA as a future career, preferring a business career with his father in his fatheras financial management company. Returning to Cedar City, Utah, at Christmastime, Michael learns that Carol is single, and after a brief courtship, marriage soon follows. The marriage is cut short by Carolas untimely death, and Michael is devastated. The interweaving of interesting charactersathe sheriff, the lawyers, the doctors, a perceptive young girl named Sidney, and the social workeracreates some interesting twists and turns in a setting of fast moving intrigue, all told without vulgarity, profanity, or explicit sexual content in order to provide shock value.