A veteran Florida police officer dismisses all thoughts of an easy evening when a minor traffic stop reveals human body parts in the bed of an old friend's pickup truck. Belenton detectives thought they'd seen everything. The case soon rocked prosecutors, then Florida's notorious prison system, then the FBI parachuted in. The investigation circles an old drunk, his bar, The Bucket of Blood, and a kindly undertaker. Soon, a steamy Florida Gulf Coast town is siphoned into a major murder investigation teeming with political smoke and mirrors. Detectives Michaela Beaucharp and Donna Fontaine are summoned before dawn to a secret case they aren't allowed to talk about around the department-and especially to reporters. An FBI agent must gain their trust as the trio stumbles about where Cracker Florida meets Gulf Coast tacky beach. Their oaths and moral backbone are tested throughout as they struggle within a structure that, from time to time, use rules and laws to substitute intelligence and responsibility.