The story is set in 1920s rural Kentucky, in a deeply religious town where it is common for older-teen girls (17-19) to marry and bear children. Some of these marriages are consensual, others are under duress. The two main characters are transgender men who are routinely and sometimes aggressively misgendered by the townsfolk. The perspective character refers with minimal detail to a past rape, and copes with PTSD in the present. The secondary main character is violently raped offscreen in a direct attempt to force a marriage. The narrative describes his wounded condition afterwards in detail, and returns repeatedly to the consequences: pregnancy, abortion, his search for justice and then for revenge.