Tyler Love is the son of Molly Reeves's life of sex and drugs. He grows up on the wrong side of the tracks and has a hard life on Virginia's Eastern Shore, but as a small boy he acquires two mentors - a garage owner and the widow of a judge. One taught him to earn and save money. The other educated him in every way she knew how.
Tyler won academic and athletic scholarships and attended Westminister University where he meets Diana Bartolli. The two of them locate Molly's Nebraska family. Diana becomes a lawyer and Tyler's agent when he signs to play baseball with The Washington Nationals, where he becomes an ace, and they eventually marry.
Molly moves to Nebraska to be with her family, and Diana practices law with Molly's father and brother. In time Diana has two sons. Molly marries and on her honeymoon she and her new husband are murdered by the man Molly lived with for twenty years before her family was found.
In the middle of baseball season, a rich client of Diana's kidnaps and violate s her, and Tyler and his new uncle resolve the matter.
A west coast vacation, a change of teams to the Colorado Rockies, Cy Young Awards and a year off with a week's vacation on a friend's Virginia barrier island - all tend to prove to Tyler that he can't retire and help his sons grow up. He finally realizes that baseball is his life, and he returns to the game.
