Things put together in Gabriel's mind eventually appear in reality. Sometimes it happens by craft, as did the fiefdom he built in present-day Wyoming. It also happens by miracle. Nothing else could explain the presence of Banford, young, beautiful and dangerously intelligent. The day he meets the woman of his dreams, our modern-day feudal lord also encounters a junk-yard troglodyte named Mad Dog, who hates Gabriel instantly. Determined to humble Gabriel, Mad Dog becomes obsessed with a course of ruin where nothing is sacred and no one, especially the lord's lady, is safe.