Sheriff Heidi Kick has a dead body on her hands, a homeless young man last seen alive miles from the Bad Axe. Chillingly, the medical examiner confirms what Sheriff Kick has been experiencing in her own recurring nightmatres of late: the victim was buried alive. As the relentless summer heat bears down and more bodies are discovered, Heidi also finds herself embroiled in a nasty reelection campaign. These days her detractors call her "Sheriff Mommy" - KICK HER OUT, holler the opposition's campaign signs - and as her family troubles become public, vicious rumours threaten to sway the electorate and derail her investigation. Enter Vietnam veteran Leroy Fanta, editor-in-chief of the local paper, who believes Sheriff Kick's strange case might be tied to a reclusive man writing deranged letters to the opinion section for years. With his heart and liver on their last legs, Fanta drums up his old journalistic instincts in one last effort to help Heidi find a lead in her case, or at least a good story...