Set in Macon, Georgia, this novel-length character study covers three days in the life of "nice guy" Connie Holtzclaw, small-time prizefighter and would-be dreamer turned kidnapper. Connie and his older brother Carl, the mastermind behind the scheme, kidnap and hold a rich college kid for $200,000 ransom. With his hoped-for cut of the money, Connie intends to lure Rita, his waitress-girlfriend, to Montana to start a new life together. As dark events unfold, Connie's naivete is juxtaposed against a reality of double murder and betrayal.