Midsummer: Inner City, USA.

"Monday morning, Jason's room was an oven. He looked out through his eighth-floor window at a city made of hot, dry cement: concrete pillars holding up a concrete sky...."

 Jason, the only child of a single, working mother, is hot, lonely, and bored. He comes upon a mysterious gift card offering a ride on one of various horses or a mystery ride. Jason picks the latter and wins the most exciting - and revealing - week of his life!