Lois-Ann Yamanaka tells the story of the Yagyuu family, who live in Hilo above Heads by Harry, the family's taxidermy shop. Every day a group of opinionated old futs from the neighborhood gathers outside Harry O.'s shop, where they discuss everyone in town (loudly) and drink beer and eat smoked meat into the pau hana hours. Back home, things aren't quite as simple. Toni Yagyuu, the middle child, wanders through life in the shadow of her flamboyant big brother, Sheldon, who prefers the name Shelly and whose penchant for cosmetology causes Harry O. much consternation. The younger sister, Bunny, is a provocative beauty and a budding diva. At the heart of their rivalry is a small-town catch extraordinaire, Maverick Santos, football star and pig hunter for the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Enamored of Billy Harper, a hapa haole who loves her from afar, Toni must choose between college life, the strange beauty of taxidermy, the gore of the hunt, and her visceral attraction to Maverick's older brother, Wyatt, a swaggering thug who may be far more tender than be appears.