Perry Drinkwater hails from a remote backhills settlement on a post-colonization planet. She was raised to mistrust the outside world, especially the wicked towns which, her father tells her, offer nothing but violence, materialism, and moral degradation.And then her settlement is sacked, her family murdered, and Perry thrown into the power of a young soldier. He saves her life, but to do it he takes her straight to Bear Hollow, exactly the sort of place Perry was warned against.Can Perry swallow her pride and live among the degraded townspeople? Might her father have been wrong about them, or only too right? Might Bear Hollow provide Perry the man, the home, and the family she always wanted . . . or will it suck away everything she valued about herself?