Clover has a peculiar effect on men-they turn into homicidal lunatics. She decides to swear off men and gives up her dream of the perfect boring suburban life. She hadn't counted on finding a very large, very yummy Viking in her favorite part of the library courtyard. Clover finds she has to trust this Viking, because she's in danger from gangsters hunting her to collect on her brother's debts. Rune is a thousand-year-old Viking trying to escape from a curse. He must fall in love with the woman the gods choose for him or suffer eternity in Norse Hel. Nine times he's tried and nine times he's failed. This is his last attempt. Resigned to his doom, he vows to save Clover from the gods' petty games before his death. As the last round of the gods' game begins, Rune discovers there are worse things than losing his soul.