Rase Illion is a middle-aged captain of industry, a restrained man with a spotless reputation just emerging from the shadow of his vicious, driven father. Since his father's death five years ago, Rase has been living as though the old man were still alive, keeping up appearances with his trophy wife and his huge house and his workaholic lifestyle. A chance meeting with a young man, Gabriel Chariton, in which Gabriel loses his temper and lashes out, unleashes Rase's carefully hidden submissive and masochistic tendencies. It is as though Rase is awakened from a long sleep by one night of sex and violence that ends in unexpected tenderness and comfort. He returns to his life to set things right, to begin to shape it in his own image. Though he frees himself from some of his lies and reconciles with his son, he cannot put Gabriel out of his head, and sets out to find the man who woke him up. But Rase isn't the only one shaken by their encounter. He has to negotiate carefully to convince Gabriel that he isn't the kind of man he pretended to be.