Darren Lemming, the star center fielder of the world champion New York Empires, is young, rich, famous, talented, handsome, and so convinced of his popularity that when he casually announces he's gay, he assumes the news will be readily accepted by everyone. It isn't. Friends, fans, and teammates react with ambivalence, and when the slipping Empires call up the young phenom Shane Mungitt to close their games, the ambivalence turns to violence. Angry, lonely, guilt-ridden and confused, Darren finds some unlikely solace in the form of friendship with his new business manager, Mason Marzac--a brilliant but repressed guy, who, as everyone around him copes with disenchantment, blooms in the ecstatic discovery of baseball.