Trent Strong is back home in his northern Minnesota lake community after spending ten years working on a Chicago daily newspaper as an investigative journalist covering heinous crimes and traveling to war-torn countries. Sick of all the deaths, and content with returning to a slower pace, Trent buys the local weekly newspaper. But Trent is in town for only one week when an old friend asks him to investigate the Mammoth Paper Mill, which he suspects is polluting a small trout stream beyond EPA standards. Since the mill employs over half the town, the friend hasn't made many friends with his claim. The next day, a woman is found stabbed to death in a lakeshore motel. For personal reasons, Trent is compelled to investigate her death, as well as the paper mill. Are the two related? As Trent investigates, he runs across many people from his past. Some are potential suspects, and others make him question if his move back home was the right one. He starts a relationship with the motel manager, but even wonders if she is somehow involved with the murder. Trent must investigate around a small town sheriff and county attorney running for re-election, out-of-state thugs who want to shut him up, and an entire town that would like the whole thing to go away. What he finds will change his life forever.