Cima and her father live in a deserted valley far from where Hig and his compatriot Bangley live. It happens that on one of his usual trolls over the land, Hig flies above the valley where Cima and her father reside, and he can see the signs of life in the place despite the great flu that has swept off living creatures in the entire Colorado region within ten years. Hig’s wife is one of the victims of the flu, and her death has left Hig clinging for his survival at deserted airport quarters with his dog before he later comes to meet Bangley, a former military officer. During this period, many intruders are fighting for their survival although by dubious means. The rate of murder and rape is high, and this is a constant threat to the survival of the people who have survived the great flu including Hig and Bangley and Cima and her father.

Owing to the threats of attacks to the survivors, they are always armed to protect themselves in case an intruder appears. Hig and Bangley are entirely negative in their view and perception of any intruders who met them. It is no wonder that Hig shoots and kills several of them although sometimes Bangley does not support him in his motives. According to Hig and his compatriot Bangley, whom he at times thinks is insane, the intruders are just a merciless lot who wear necklaces with dry vaginas and their sole mission is killing and raping the survivors of the lethal flu that swept across the whole place several years ago.

The death of Hig’s beloved dog is a blow to his survival hopes. The dog had been his only company before he meets Bangley and his death only piles more feelings of isolation to Hig. Hig goes on with his occasional exploratory flights around the whole place whenever he has fuel, and it is in one of his flights that he happens to go beyond his usual boundaries of exploration and that is when he lands at Cima and her father’s residence. As a routine to the people, Cima and her father meet Hig with great suspicion and they receive him at gunpoint so that he cannot attack them. They do that to ensure that their safety and security is assured. However, after Hig surrenders his arms and Cima’s father frisks him to rid him of any dangerous weapon, Cima and her father stops threatening Hig at gunpoint, and they welcome him openly into their residence. Hig’s plane is already out of fuel, and there is no airport nearby where he can access the fuel to reach his and Bangley’s home, so he is left with only one option, to stay with Cima and her father.

Cima and her father warmly accommodate Hig in their home and soon enough they are easily interacting very well. Hig and Cima develop a strong friendship in a short spell of time, and they even go to the farms and work together in a few days’ time. The two, Cima and Hig develop a close relationship, and they soon come to discover intimacies between them and their interaction is taken a notch higher every time they are together. To Hig, it almost looks like he is on a vacation while he only arrived as a stranger and an intruder. The bond between Hig and the lady is continually deepening with time, and they share a lot of their experiences in their extensive talks.

Contrasting to Hig and Bangley’s view of intruders, Cima and her father only need to be assured of their safety and once they find out that Hig is a kind and harmless stranger, they warmly welcome and accommodate him into their home and share a lot of things and experiences with him. Cima goes on and develops an intimate bond with Hig. on the other hand, Bangley and, especially Hig are very negative towards strangers and intruders who come across them. Hig is very hostile while treating the intruders and he goes on to a further point of shooting and killing four of the strangers.

The view, however, is subject to changes in a pre-apocalyptic world environment since it would be difficult for Cima and her father to accommodate and reside with a stranger without willing to spend or work for anything due to an impending expectation of something. The attitude that Cima and her father have towards strangers would shift to that of suspicion or anxiety because they would not know what to expect from a stranger or an intruder and they would rather remain as they were before they meet the stranger. In the case of a pre-apocalyptic environment, the attitude that Cima and her father would have towards Hig would change to a cautious one and thus Cima would not only observe a safer distance between her and Hig but also she obviously cannot be very open to him and sharing their experiences.

The reason for the change of the view that Cima and her father have towards Hig is that in a pre-apocalyptic world, they would not be open to welcoming or sharing a lot with strangers due to the imminent apocalyptic event on which they would be focusing. That would suggest that due to the uncertain nature of the future after the impending apocalypse, Cima especially would not be as outgoing as she seems to be and thus adopting a stranger into her life as warmly as she does would be a little bit harder than when the apocalyptic event has passed.