Investigation of the discovery of a woman's body, mummified after 30 years in a Tennessee cave, brings forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton of the Body Farm into conflict with inhabitants of a remote mountain community. The county's uncooperative sheriff and incompetent deputy threaten to derail the investigation, as do Brockton's personal demons-- lingering guilt over the death of his wife and the fury of a medical examiner whom Brockton opposes in court.