Television news reporter Maitlyn Flutters is trying to succeed in a profession and culture shaped by the expectations and desires of men. When she goes to interview football-star-turned-congressman "Famous" Nathan Saltenstall at his San Diego mansion, she is expecting a career boost. Instead, an unexpected encounter sets off a chain of events, and soon her comfortable life is coming undone. In this tale of racial privilege, the power of celebrity, and the allure of wealth, novelist and historian Timothy Braatz takes readers to the disparate neighborhoods of San Diego County-from idyllic beach enclaves and exclusive suburban oases to urban black-and-brown communities, live-aboard marinas, and sprawling military bases-and leaves them with this question: Once you start making devil's bargains, can you ever escape them?