A routine missing person's case sends Sam Jenkins and John Gallagher into the world of industrial pollution, environmental activists and profuse ambiguities. Former government agents, the man's parents and other material witnesses seem to be withholding information and nothing is as it appears. Can the young man's beautiful friend provide them with enough information to locate her lover before it's too late? Time is running out as the detectives attempt to locate the lost man on their "peaceful side of the Smokies."