Almost thirty years have passed since Tony Lord left Lake City. Thirty long years dedicated to putting the past the brutal murder of his girlfriend, Alison Taylor, and his own acquittal of the crime behind him. Married, a father, and a successful defense lawyer in San Francisco, Tony Lord has run as far from Lake City as he can. But the phone call requesting his return and the circumstances surrounding it is enough to make the ghosts of Tony's past live again. The trigger is the murder of another young woman - that of 16-year-old Lake City High School track star Marcie Calder, last seen alive with Sam Robb, her coach and Tony's childhood friend.