Haunted by the horror of death, Kiltie Hartley emerges from a troubled past. He is sent to an Episcopalian school in the tidewater of eastern Virginia. Into the conventional society celebrated by prep school he does not fit. His final year at a public high school is darkened by deepening alienation. The shadow of death which swallowed him up during his early life catches up with him again the following year in college. Like a snake, the darkness of death coils itself around him, suffocating him in its grip. Resistance-not wanting to be forced to do anything by anyone-pitches him into another direction. Far from home, the boy travels, physically and emotionally. He survives. Is that all? No. He survives in style!