Two newcomers invade the life of Joe Allston, a 64-year-old rancher in California. One is a manipulative hippie who wants to camp on his land--a request Joe grants because his son died three years earlier, an event about which Joe still feels some guilt. The other is a new neighbor, the lovely Marian, who has a tragic secret. Stegner's novel provides his usual searching look at varying attitudes toward nature and human relationships.

In Bologna, novice police detective Grazia Negro tries to convince her superiors that a serial killer is responsible for a seemingly unconnected string of crimes.