Mark is a newcomer to gay life, and to the gay summer community of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, the gay mecca of the mid-Atlantic seaboard. The beautiful, available men, the sudden freedom, and the intense scrutiny of his every asset on the beach draw Mark into this complex world where he learns the rules of beach life, with its exultation, stresses, and, ultimately, mystery. As prominent gay men die one-by-one throughout the summer, Dr. Mary Fox, the new county Medical Examiner, is pulled into a world she never knew but to which she has surprising connections. Obsessive love of opera, traditional Catholicism, unknown drugs, homophobia, U.S. Army chemical warfare researchers, alleged police incompetence, hysterical news media, and catty witticisms mix together as an increasingly divided community struggles to solve the mystery before the next victim appears. Mark finds that he must wrestle with his own demons and the divided life that he leads. By August, the question at every party and tea dance is the same: who will be the next person to receive “Tosca’s kiss?”