The time is the present. The place, the rugged coast of northern California. A bluff high above the Pacific. A grand mansion full of beauty and tantalizing history set against a towering redwood forest. A young reporter on assignment from the San Francisco Observer, an older woman, welcoming him into her magnificent, historic family home that he has been sent to write about and that she must sell with some urgency. A chance encounter between two unlikely people, an idyllic night shattered by horrific unimaginable violence. The young man inexplicably attacked, bitten by a beast he cannot see in the rural darkness. A violent episode that sets in motion a terrifying yet seductive transformation as the young man, caught between ecstasy and horror, between embracing who he is evolving into and fearing who, what, he will become, soon experiences the thrill of the wolf gift. Followed by "The wolves of midwinter". 2012.