[2][3] Henry Pitts is having Kinsey's garage apartment rebuilt after it was destroyed in the events of the previous novel.

Royce Fowler wants the detective to exonerate his son of the murder of Jean Timberlake, seventeen years before, in Floral Beach, California.

Kinsey heads to Floral Beach, a tiny local community, to pursue the cold trail; and she stays with the Fowler family at their motel.

Royce is dying of cancer; his wife Oribelle is sick with diabetes; and their daughter Ann, Bailey's senior by five years, has taken leave of absence from her job as a counselor at the local high school to provide care for her parents.

Attention is turned to Jean's single mother, Shana, whose friendship with Dwight is causing prompted skepticism around Floral Beach.

Kinsey runs from the cops herself after she finds the body and seeks refuge with Dwight Shales, who confesses that he, too, was having an affair with Jean and was probably the father of her child.

Though there is insufficient evidence to prove her to be Jean's killer, the circumstances are sufficient to ensure that Bailey is cleared of the murder.

[4] Publishers Weekly gave a similar review, calling the plot "complex" and noting the main character's continued development.