Female bodybuilding competition is the background for a tale of ambition, success, and failure. Shereel Dupont, a leading contender, has been trained to a fine-tuned perfection by Russell Morgan. At the Ms. Cosmos contest Shereel is confronted by her past as Dorothy Turnipseed--mother, father, sister, two brothers, and a former lover from the backwoods of Georgia. Bawdy humor is generated by the Turnipseed family, and conflict is supplied by Marvella, a big black woman who is Shereel's only real competition. The interplay among the leading characters is propelled with lean prose and dialog to an ending that is as shocking as it is inevitable.