The novel concerns a rash of violent suicides at a Catholic high school.

The plot of this book is that the main character Peter Balsam, who is a Latin and psychology teacher.

In the town of Neillsville, Washington Peter Balsam was hired to work at St. Francis Xavier High School.

In his book John Saul: a critical companion, Paul Bail wrote that the plot "owes as much to the protagonist's personal flaws as to the villain's conspiratorial machinations.

Bail also noted that the book differed from some of Saul's other works in that it focused on a male protagonist and that it contained "factually historical underpinnings".