In a return from the popular novel The Center of Earth and Sky, Painting the Desert continues the story of Whit, who lives with his beloved twins, Grey and Raine. They've been living a charmed life, but their whole world is threatened when Grey is diagnosed with cancer, and everything starts to fall apart. Grey is their rock, and as he's ravaged by the cancer treatment, Whit and Raine struggle to hold it together. Will Whit find the strength to be what his lovers need him to be? Can he remain in the center of such a storm and survive it intact?