Matt Murphy is a history professor in Northern Illinois who becomes very angry because of the presidential election results of 2004. He decides that someone in Ohio has to die because he blames that state for the horrific results of the election. He purchases a gun for the first time and starts on the road to Coshocton Ohio, a town he chose by pointing blindly to a map. He is diverted from his mission to kill by the eccentric people he meets and his own conflict around killing. Matt's character is explored in the present and with vignettes surrounding his life. Humor and suspense mix in an attempt to understand the interplay of culture, religion and violence.