She arrives in Reno to establish a six-week residency to attain a quick divorce, which Nevada was known for at that time.

Ann is revealed to reject significant relationships in her life, and although she is romantic with both men and women, she refuses to become attached to anyone.

The story is set in Reno, Nevada, around which spreads an expanse of desert that initially strikes fear into Evelyn upon her arrival and has been a comfort to Ann during her existence there.

It is used to describe Evelyn's lack of knowledge of what real love is, when she tells Ann that she lives "in the desert of the heart."

"[3] Rule's prose did not sensationalize the relationship between Evelyn and Ann, choosing a detached method of writing.

One reviewer noted, "Miss Rule is so arbitrary in her depiction of the major characters' psyche-searching and so sketchy in her description of minor figures that the reader is apt to have little empathy with anyone.

"[4] One reviewer cautioned potential readers that despite the lack of sensationalism, "The Desert of the Heart is not recommended to those who find sexual perversion an uncomfortable subject.

"[5] Desert of the Heart was highly recommended by Gene Damon in The Ladder, who called it "a symbolic delight.

People were writing things like you are the only person in the world who could possibly understand who I am, how I feel, if I'm not able to talk to someone I'm going to kill myself...it just felt to me overwhelming and depressing that there was so much fear and so much self-hatred and so much loneliness.

"[7] It tied for 10th place on a list of top ten gay novels by Bibliofemme, an Irish book club.