Raymond Chance expatriates himself to Mexico after his marriage fails, he does eighteen months for Assault and Battery, and he's run over by a car in a Safeway parking lot. Ten years later he returns at the news of his ex-wife's death, hoping to rekindle something of a relationship with his one and only child, daughter Jen, now grown and living in Eugene, Oregon. But Jen, poisoned with hatred by her mother, she blows him off in no uncertain terms. Chance, done with California and Mexico and needing a new lease on life, chooses Pueblo, Colorado for its salubrious climate and cheap real estate. Having sold his former machine shop and flush with cash, Chance realizes a long dream of his by buying a small book store whose owner is ready to retire. Throwing himself into the project, he's soon turning a profit against all odds, and before long he's hosting an open-mic night at the venerable Downtown Books. Into his life come a slew of interesting characters - some writers, some not - and a lovely young woman who, despite their disparate ages, agrees to marry him after a suitable courtship. Finally, things are going swimmingly, or so it seems. Unable to outrun his violent past, fate catches up with him, even in off-piste Pueblo, and when it does he reacts like a deer in the headlights.