Ricky Belisle had failed his family, his people, his childhood friend, Marie-Jeanne Charbonneau. His forebears—father, grandfathers, great-grandfathers and beyond— had been warriors. It is 1960, the nuclear age. The world no longer needs soldiers. He seeks redemption as a minor league baseball player traveling across the south and west of America. He encounters in the south temptation, corruption, explosive rage and hypocrisy. Envy, deceit, murder. Injury and death lurks behind each friendly grin. Within the confines of the baseball stadium there is safety and certainty, rules firm and clear. He suffers injury on a run down between third base and home plate. Marie Jeanne finds him on a Colorado mountain, recovering, but hardened. Yet again indifferent nature tests them, their love, their worth.
