On a cold, miserable night in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a night that wouldn't feel so unusual if it wasn't the Fourth of July, an antique wooden boat runs full-speed into a line of old railroad pilings in the shallow waters of Waishkey Bay. When Alex McKnight helps rescue the passengers, he finds three men. The driver is out cold, the other two are dazed but conscious. When they're all finally back on dry land and sent away in an ambulance, Alex figures he'll never see them again.