Escaping from their personal lives and taking refuge in a nightclub, a runaway bride, a recovering alcoholic, and a downtrodden minister's wife adopt a retired circus lion and spend their days waitressing until the past catches up with them.

Tracee is a runaway bride and a kleptomaniac. Lana's an audacious beauty and a recovering alcoholic. Rita is a holy-roller minister's wife, desperate to escape her marriage and discover whether she actually has a mind of her own. One warm summer's night these three women go on the lam together. Their car breaks down on a rural highway in North Carolina and they're forced to seek shelter in a seemingly abandoned nightclub. Which is where they meet Marcel. And everything soon changes. Marcel, you see, is a lion, a retired circus performer stuck in a cage in this godforsaken roadhous. And through admiration - one might even say love- for Marcel, our heroines find a way to confront their complicated pasts and fight for the strange embracing relationships they've formed in the middle of nowhere. They ultimately navigate their way back to their own hearts- and ours. - book jacket