The novel begins as we find Johnnie in bed, and even though there is a thunderstorm directly over her Ashland Estates home, she is sleeping soundly for the first time since the murder of Richard Goode (her mother's killer), and the subsequent riots. However, during her waking hours, Napoleon Bentley enters her mind more often than she'd care to admit. She wants him to bed her again, but she loves Lucas Matthews, her boyfriend. Or is he?