The pull of nature links the three novellas in this collection from Daedalus favorite Jim Harrison, exploring tough questions about life and love. Julip follows a resourceful young woman trying to spring her brother from a Florida jail, after he shot three of her former lovers "below the belt." The rascally Brown Dog returns in The Seven-Ounce Man, pursuing the better things in life—food, drink, and women—while sailing along in the bottom ten percent. The Beige Dolorosa is the tale of a middle-aged professor, ousted from academia for clinging to old male archetypes, who turns to the natural world for solace.