Leaving the big city and coming back to South Carolina was the best thing attorney Tal Jefferson ever did. Even though she's still haunted by the ghosts of her past, she's finally given up the booze and started letting the tranquility of her hometown work its way through her veins. But her life is thrust back into turmoil when she and a high school acquaintance make a gruesome discovery in the Wynnton River. A man has been murdered-and soon, he's identified as the estranged husband of Tal's fierce- hearted secretary, June Atkins. In a town full of racism and self-delusion, Tal will have to clear June's name and save them both from a murderer who'll do anything to save himself.