Sam Stone appeared out of nowhere a decade ago - a ghost on the muddy Gulf Coast - denim-clad and wandering. He now earns a meager living etching tombstones in the blazing Florida sun. On his lunch break, he checks an eternally empty P.O. box and mails out cryptic envelopes filled with cash. At night, he holes up in his rent house and shuts out the world. Sam's hermit lifestyle is thrown into chaos after a massive sinkhole inexplicably swallows his neighbor's front yard in the middle of the night, leaving his house temporarily uninhabitable. Sam drifts from mausoleums to motels until he meets Cathy, a crestfallen folk singer whose young son died under mysterious circumstances. A staggering turn of events sends the pair westbound across the scorching south - Cathy in pursuit of the person she wants to become, and Sam in search of the man he used to be. A detour in Texas opens wounds that threaten to propel the couple in opposite directions, and Sam discovers that his only path to salvation is to confront a heartbreaking past before another sinkhole swallows him for good.DEVIL IN A SLEEPING BAG is an intensely sad, darkly funny redemption odyssey that spans six states, two hearts, and one summer.