Mallory is on the run from his whole life. He's been working for an environmental activism group, but he's out of control, trying to wipe out the memories of a tough childhood in his efforts to save the planet. When an accident at sea costs the lives of his colleagues, he crash-lands back in his hometown in the far north of Scotland, lonely and at rock-bottom.
It's the last place on earth he expects to find comfort or friendship. But a strange young man is hard at work in the abandoned craft village where Mallory used to take refuge. He's compellingly gorgeous. It takes Mallory a while to get him talking, and when he does, he thinks his new friend is delusional. Vivian believes he's mastered the technique of cold fusion in his makeshift lab: a semi-mythical source of free energy which could change the world.
To Mallory's astonishment, Vivian convinces him. And others have been convinced too - malevolent powers who wouldn't think twice about killing Viv to get at his discovery. He's brilliant, but completely unworldly. All Mal can do to protect him is take him on the run.
They're a wildly mismatched pair. Thrown together in the teeth of danger, they bond despite their differences. Soon Mal knows there's nothing he wouldn't do to save Viv, and attraction springs up between them like fire. But Mal is up against an enemy within, and Viv's time is running out...