Jack Devereux, a fund-raiser for St. John Vianney College in Oregon, thinks he has settled into a comfortable campus life, a lonely life with his wife having left him and his beloved son killed in Honduras. Then a married student renting rooms from him, a wealthy widow, and a tantalizing, conditional offer of millions for the school present him with problems he never dreamed of.

Questions abound but answers aren't easy. Who is sending blackmail notes to his friend, the president of the university? Does his student renter, who reminds him of his lost son, know something disconcerting about the president's past? Should a school in need be willing to change its name for a gift of millions? Is he falling in love with an attractive donor?-- And is he wise to consider marriage again, especially with his former wife expressing a desire to return to him? Jack sees vengeance at work and ponders his role, if any. in trying to seek just deserts.