Matthew is a boy who just left school. He is handsome and athletic and believes himself to be gay. He retains a friendship with only one school friend, Phil, who has stuck by Matthew despite hostile reactions from his peers. As their relationship grows more intense, Phil's girlfriend Sharon and his classmates become vindictive and aggressive. The two friends find themselves ostracized by both friends and family and decide to run away.

Oregon, 1851. Hermann Kermit Warm, a chemist and aspiring gold prospector, keeps a profitable secret that the Commodore wants to know, so he sends the Sisters brothers, two notorious assassins, to capture him on his way to California.

After finding her boss, a private detective, has committed suicide and has left her his agency, Cordelia Gray is asked to investigate the suicide of the man's son. During the course of her investigation, Cordelia becomes obsessed with the young man's memory and his increasingly suspicious death.