Blindsided by his mother's deathbed confession that his father is still alive, thirty-four-year-old defense lawyer Wardel Hawkins, Jr. (Hawk) risks everything to prove Sandman-responsible for three deaths thirty years prior-deserves clemency and forgiveness.

When Hawk steps off the water taxi onto Caye Caulker and lies to Chapie Nels, the island's unofficial ambassador, as to his identity, the shifting sands of a coerced alliance cracks open a Pandora's box that contains clues as to the enigmatic life of ex-sheriff Wardel Hawkins, Snr. (Sandman). Sandman has spent decades harvesting sea-sand, living an ascetic life, paying penance for the death of his daughter, his partner, and his role in the murder of convict Clive Swenger. The last thing Sandman wants is to dredge up the tragedy that destroyed his family and future and face prosecution for his frontier brand of justice. Until he learns he has a granddaughter who can fill the hole in his heart.