The Gloucester High Lions football team, for decades one of the premier athletic powerhouses in South Jersey, has fallen on hard times. A mysterious stranger, McGrogan, visits Gloucester right before football practices begin in August and makes a deal with a naïve young musician, Steve Oxley, that promises to restore the Lions to their former glory-but may cost Oxley his life and soul. Oxley tries to balance a budding romantic relationship with a moody artist with his newfound stature as the town's football hero. The romance is further complicated by the attention Oxley receives from a beautiful new girl at the high school. The thrill of high school athletic competition mingles with young love and the frightening dark arts practiced by McGrogan. Allegiances shift, the lines between hero and villain are blurred, and the small town rises to defend its honor. Nothing gets resolved until the final pages.