In this sequel to Crum, Jesse Stone is still on the move. He finds himself in a holy-roller church in Kentucky, on the other side of the Tug River from his native West Virginia, ""screaming with the cannibals."" From Kentucky he heads to Myrtle Beach, where he gets hired as a lifeguard, although he can't even swim. Of course, trouble follows Jesse Stone. And so he is always in a hurry to leave - and he doesn't much care where he is going. Throughout this tale, Jesse anxiously continues his search for a freedom and a future that he knows exists outside of his familiar world.