From impulse-or inspiration-Joe Tierney picks up and leaves his shattered life in the Midwest. He heads for what he hopes is a warm and welcoming gay society in Palm Springs. His friend Edward Brockton, an Episcopal priest he met in a clandestine support group for HIV+ clergy, has gotten him a maintenance job at an exclusive gay guest house in Warm Sands, Palm Springs. And Joe wants to reconnect with his ex-lover, Kenny, even though Kenny is already seeing someone else. Joe's plan seems simple. Yet, on his first day in Palm Springs, he meets Oscar, a young man of the streets, who makes a living with his hands and wits. Then Edward Brockton comes to visit. Joe may learn to live with his disease, but how will he do when building intimate relationships is his new vocation? In Palm Springs, Joe's simple plan becomes tangled. Can one love be swapped for another? Or several others? Who is the powerful man working to destroy him? And what is his calling now-the purpose that drives him each day?