Though life in the rural Wisconsin border country is having some healing effects for ex-Minneapolis cop Claire Watkins, she is still plagued by nightmares of past tragedy. Now she's plunged into a shattering murder case that will force her to confront the demons that still haunt her.

Jeb Spitzer is knifed to death at the local harvest moon dance. A widower for four years, he leaves three teenagers orphaned. But Claire senses a feeling of desperate relief among the three kids. As she peels back the layers of the crime, she uncovers a shocking connection to Spitzer's wife's "accidental" death, and secrets that premeditated both incidents. But in order to prevent another senseless death, she will have to confront the human capacity to kill -- from which she herself is not immune.