Molly Muldoon thinks she has opened all her presents on the morning of her 16th birthday, but her parents have one last surprise, a hand gun with "great stopping power" and as such she is welcomed into the family business of hitpeople. Along with the gun comes her first contract, somebody is prepared to pay a lot of money to have Robin Slade dead, and Molly must come to terms with her parents' lifestyle or go her own way. When she meets Robin, an eternal optimist "smacked up to her eyeballs", the two discuss Molly's options, but in the end it is Molly alone who can make the decision.