Jody was beautiful, still shy, and finding out what every girl learns young in a poor Carolina mill town. Already she knew why her stepfather looked at her...why his son wanted to get her alone. Why she had to get away. It was the season for meeting a man who was strong enough to be gentle. Ray, the good-looking loner, who wanted to make good for time spent in the army and in jail...who took Jody with him when small-town jealousies and violence got them in trouble with the law.