Informed by the police that Chris, his son, has committed suicide, David Hook, an Illinois farmer, knows that this cannot be true. He knows that something else must have happened in California to cause the death of Chris, who loved life too much to take his own. He also knows that he must go West to find out what did happen. In California, he discovers corruption, immorality and pain that shocks him to the very core of his being but he also discovers exhilaration and pleasure that changes him forever.