Paul Ellsworth, the youngest child in an upper-middle-class Midwestern family, seems privileged in many ways. He enjoys strong and loving relationships with his mother and sister; while his father, Rex, owns a very successful Harley-Davidson dealership. Unfortunately for Paul, Rex also owns a control-entitlement complex that stems from his belief in strong paternal guidance. Paul's oldest brother Jason thrives on this. Paul does not. To make matters worse, Paul hates motorcycles while growing up, and Rex's repeated attempts to force him to learn to ride contribute to their worsening rift. As Paul's sister Lori slowly falls for Jason's best friend, Brian, a bully who torments Paul at every opportunity, Paul graduates high school and leaves home for the service and college. Years later, Paul works at a challenging but occasionally rewarding job as a high school counselor. To get over a failed relationship, Paul rethinks his feelings toward motorcycles and learns to ride, pleased with his fetish for high-performance import bikes, which he knows his father hates. After Paul embarks on a promising new relationship with a brilliant young woman he meets at a bike rally, he discovers that his sister is embroiled in an exploitative marriage with Brian the bully. Paul returns home to confront his father, brother, and brother-in-law in a series of showdowns with potentially fatal results. With a narrative combining provocative dialogue and fast-paced action, Cycles of Control explores two conflicts: One between abusers and those who defy them; the other between diverse and divisive elements in one of America's most fascinating sub-cultures, the motorcycling community.