Matt Ryderas tombstone does not bid him rest in peaceaCassie has vowed that no one will rest in peace until she finds her husbandas killer. Her relentless questioning leads to a vicious attack on her life, and subsequent expulsion from the reservation by her Anglo missionary parents. Undaunted, Cassie continues her search from her new location, her family home in the southern Appalachians. Her new life in Hartsville brings the threat of an unwanted romance with her neighbor, the reluctant Jesse Lankford, while a Native American man lurks ever present in the shadows. Amid threats from a local scam artist, the antics of a Shakespearean troupe, and the needs of an untrained hotelier, she stalks the killer until she comes face to face with himaand with her own death.