HEAT is a story set in a pre-industrial world of wide plains, looming mountains, and rivers of potable water. The encounter is between a young woman of a horse-centered tribal agrarian society and a somewhat older man of a great military empire centered in high stone cities. There is conflict in this world, these two being more or less on the same side; the foe is a viciously predatory, bestial race that comes out at night and will eat anything. Where they came from and who lurks behind them is another story. Even in the midst of war, even in a world of little trust and great caution, there can be passion, and sometimes, for a while, even love.