John Hunt and his Uncle Gus live in the beautiful high desert of Wyoming. A black horse trainer is a curiosity, but at least he's a familiar curiosity in these parts. It is the brutal murder of a gay man, however, that pushes the small community to the teetering edge of fear and tolerance.



As the first blizzard of the season gains momentum, John is forced to reckon not only with the daily burden of unruly horses, a three-legged coyote pup, an escape artist mule and an abundance of house guests, but also with a father-son war over homosexuality, his own chance for love, and the increasingly menacing sense of threat and unease that hangs over the small community as it falls victim to random hate crimes.



In a brilliant novel that explores the alarming consequences of hatred in a divided America, Percival Everett addresses the toughest issues of our time with extraordinary grace, humour and originality.