Geoff is a man of 50, a man destroyed. In the chaotic circumstances of a Pride Party in San Francisco he is given an opportunity to meet Elizabeth Cromwell, a Professional Dominant. He asks her to find a woman named Prescott who is to apologize for events at a hotel, Tors Lake. A week later Elizabeth receives a gift of a valuable comic book collection from him. Elizabeth meets Geoff's mother's lawyer to ask that Geoff cease and desist his interest in her, but Geoff has disappeared. Soon after, Elizabeth is at a July 4 labor rally at San Francisco city center with a lawyer, Sheila Prescott. A huge explosion kills hundreds and spares Elizabeth and an old blind man's dog. They set off in a series of encounters. Each links a moment to a moment before and a moment after, weaving a thread of bizarre connections to a California Historical House. Upstairs is an old photograph of a railroad boxcar with the name, Tors Lake.