Skunk Lane Forhension - a man of pure evil who bears a striking resemblance to Lee Harvey Oswald and has an uncanny knack for accurately diagnosing the physical ailments of everyone he encounters - arrives in La Crosse, Wisconsin to take charge of an outlaw motorcycle gang. Ugly Billy Verite, former snitch and failing gumshoe, soon finds himself at the top of Skunk's hit list and must go on the lam.

So, for her separate reasons, must the sexy and lascivious Lola, and the pair, like Huck and Jim before them, hide out on a deserted island in the Mississippi, a few miles offshore from La Crosse.

As Billy and Lola set about fortifying their sanctuary, something like a love story is played out, while back in the city their friend Gerard is doing battle with the dark forces of Skunk, now in league with two corrupt undercover cops, familiar characters to readers of Rick Harsch's first novel, The Driftless Zone.

As this action unfolds in its dizzying and often violent fashion, the narrator himself turns private eye, and in a novel within the novel he attempts to unravel the mystery of the cracked skull of a pretty bar slut and to come to terms with the death of one of his best friends (and favorite characters).