The Treaty

The story is of an ordinary working-class man who, thinking he is getting a lucky break, finds himself in a legal morass which he cannot control. This man is a partner in a Canadian gay marriage whose multi-national employer transfers him to a state in the US which refuses to recognize his marriage. His fledgling lawyer finds an obscure US - Canada treaty which she says trumps the state law, and sues. The situation devolves into legal machinations, political controversy, diplomatic crises, violence and death. Ultimately, he has to find his own solution because the legal system fails him. The 1981 treaty quoted in the book actually exists.