RCMP Corporal Holly Martin returns to home territory to take charge of her first post, a detachment in tiny Fossil Bay on the wild south coast of Vancouver Island. Drunk drivers, speeders, and the occasional theft from tourist cars lead the crime roster, but her first day starts with a distress call from nearby Botanical Beach. A scuba diver has found the body of a girl in the surf. Angie Didrickson, a star swimmer, had been on a supervised senior field trip with her high school classmates when the accident occurred. No one saw her leave the campfire that night and bicycle to the shore. The autopsy reveals scrapes and bumps from the rocky beach and a very small amount of alcohol. A tragic drowning caused by a fall? Hoping to cover all possibilities, Holly calls in an inspector from Victoria. When he declares the case closed, the late arrival of tox-scan results for crystal meth, the most recent plague to hit the island, raises ugly questions. Did Angie take the drug herself, or did someone give it to her without her knowledge? Aided by chipper Knox Singh, her handsome Sikh constable, and Ann Troy, an older woman relegated by health problems to a desk job at the post, Holly pursues the slender leads.