Born in 1964 to a teenaged mother in Los Angeles, Scott Terry and his older sister Sissy are abandoned when she divorced their father, Virgil. Faced with the difficulties of poverty and single parenthood, Virgil joins the Jehovah's Witnesses where he meets a young Witness woman he refers to as "Fluffy."
Within a year, Virgil marries Fluffy. Scott and Sissy are then shuffled back and forth to Virgil's parents and his sisters in rural northern California, surviving a vile childhood with a stepparent who was bound and determined to be rid of them.
Indoctrinated in the Jehovah's Witness belief that Armageddon is soon to arrive, Scott and Sissy are isolated within their faith, believing that non-Witnesses are "bad association." Enduring a cruel and neglected home life, Scott finds solace in the promises of his faith, but Sissy escapes at the age of 13 when their mother returns after a ten-year absence.
Eager to return to his cowboy roots, Virgil then moves Fluffy and Scott to Wyoming where they embrace a rural western life. A teenager, Scott is well aware of his attraction to other boys, but relies on the explanations from his faith that homosexuality is most often caused by masturbation to assuage his guilt.
After 3 years in Wyoming, the family moves to rural Utah where a 15-year-old Scott is ever more aware of his homosexuality. Hungry and deprived, he finally reaches the breaking point with Fluffy and runs away from home. Eventually calling the police for help, he is then sent to live with an aunt he vaguely remembers. Virgil's sister, Dot, takes Scott into her home.
Aunt Dot is a wealthy and independent rancher in Northern California, and Scott eagerly accepts the love she shares. He learns to rope and ride bulls under the tutelage of an old bull rider on the ranch, and after graduating from high school, Scott travels to Montana for junior college and intercollegiate rodeo. Three years later, he returns to California to pursue a bachelor's degree. Under the welcoming care of another aunt, Aunt Donnis, he learns to embrace his identity as a gay man. Along the way, he discovers that he no longer believes in the "truth" of the Christian faith in which he was raised.
