Kip, Leslie and Kira are outliers--even in the metal scene they love. In archconservative
Gulf Coast Florida in the late 80s, just listening to metal can get you arrested--but for the three of them the risk is well worth it, because metal is what leads them to each other.

Different as they are, Kip, Leslie, and Kira form a family of sorts that proves far safer, and more loving, than the families they come from. Together, they make the pilgrimage from Florida's swamp country to the fabled Sunset Strip in Hollywood. But in time, the delicate equilibrium they've found begins to crumble. Leslie moves home to live with his elderly parents; Kip struggles to find his footing in the sordid world of L.A. music journalism; and Kira, always the most troubled of the three, finds herself drawn to ever-darker and more extreme strains of metal.

On a trip to northern Europe for her twenty-second birthday, in the middle of a show, Kira simply vanishes. Two years later, the truth about her disappearance reunites Kip with Leslie, who, in order to bring Kira home alive, must make greater sacrifices than they could ever have imagined.