Released from a prison sentence for manslaughter, Sidney returns home to West Virginia, where, to exorcise the memory of the lover he killed, he must keep his appointment with destiny in the shape of the man known as "the Renderer". A cult book that Derek Jarman planned to film, this "dark and splendid affair by an authentic American genius" (Gore Vidal) is a shattering novel of sexual passion in the remote Appalachians, and a journey into the dark night of the American soul.