Jelonnek, blue-collar Midwesterner is trapped in a life he is almost sure he wants to escape. He makes the first real choice of his life when a simple errand to a convenience store escalates into a terrifying encounter. He finds himself on a cross-country odyssey with a woman he barely knows and her young daughter, in search of escape and a second act. They find shelter and a safe distance at the edge of country and community, only to be besieged by threats from outside and, finally, from within. A descent into paranoia, nascent violence and sexuality ensues, culminating in a one-man Armageddon and an aftermath as hopeful as it is horrifying--Cover p. [4].