Wilson Lander suffers from The Dread, the relentless sensation that something terrible is always lurking in the coming minutes. Afraid of change and chance, he leads an unsatisfying life tempered by the absence of risk - until he meets Cricket Page, a woman emblazoned with wild desire, a sailor ripened by her life at sea, and the prisoner of a hidden existence.

She awakens in Wilson his only connection to the past - the spirit of his father, a professional gambler whose odds ran out on a derailed train that killed every one of its passengers. Cricket takes Wilson on a trip around the world, but what appears to be a leisurely navigation of the world's oceans soon becomes a trap as the boat they're on is captured by a band of merciless pirates and Cricket's secret agenda is exposed.

Now, trapped in Africa, Wilson is witness to a world that exceeds even his most vulgar imaginings - where reckless marauders disguised as businessmen pillage countries torn by civil war and morality languishes like a lost dream. The steamy African air fills with rain; blood collects in the streets and rushes through gutters as Cricket's heart grows darker by the minute.

Wilson's desire for her leads him in all the wrong directions until, finally, he risks his own life to draw her out of this wounded landscape, but his struggle to save her from herself may be the one war he cannot win.