Stewart's own appearance strikes bystanders with terror and, even worse, he stutters so badly that he cannot reassure them of his harmless good nature. The solace of his life -- beset by a father who is himself bizarre, a sister who is in an abusive relationship, and his nephews Lee and Lenny, whom he loves but cannot seem to protect from the terrors of their home -- has been the elaborate computer game he plays whose hero is named Dustraiser. Now Stewart finds that the enquiries he makes about the dead girl in an effort to identify her lead him into the dark and vicious world of reality, from which he has heretofore been largely able to absent himself. And he is singularly ill-equipped to play this far more sinister game.