Sweating in a hot cauldron of lawsuits, red tape, and Mafia threats is history professor Kevin Hastings.

The young, modestly successful professor stumbled across just the right investment property in downtown Chicago. And met just the right buyer for it, he thought.

But when you're a little guy running with the big guys, you gotta be careful you don't end up squished. Kevin's real-estate lawyer gave him bum advice. His buyer turned out to be a mob boss. And his new attorney is a legal torture expert, putting everybody--including Kevin--through an all-but-medieval ordeal-at-law.

Booted out of his apartment and on the run, Kevin ends up at a rescue mission--another torment. There's no way things could get worse…right?