[2] The novel's plot has its roots in the Vietnam War, and features information about Kinsey's previously unnamed first husband, Mickey, and their brief marriage 14 years before.

Kinsey's curiosity is roused when she receives a call from a man who has bought some of her possessions at an auction of defaulted storage locker items.

She recognizes the box as stuff which she left in the possession of her former husband, Michael Magruder – whom she met and married during her time on the Santa Teresa Police Force at the age of 21.

Mickey had asked her to give him a false alibi when he was accused of violence against a recently returned Vietnam veteran Benny Quintero, who later died.

As well as high school and police academy memories, she finds in the box a letter written to her 14 years before, shortly after she left Mickey, which never reached her.

From Duffy, Kinsey learns that Mickey was interested in Benny's connections to a young Louisville journalist called Duncan Oaks, who was killed in Vietnam.