It's every parent's worst nightmare. Chris Hawk's daughter has been accused of murder . . . and she looks guilty as sin. Chris rushes to the small town in Minnesota where his ex-wife and his only child, Olivia, now live, determined to defend his daughter. He discovers two towns at war: Barron, where a chemical works has brought jobs and fortune, and St Croix, Olivia's downriver home, where the same chemical works are believed to have brought death: a cancer cluster with mysterious origins. Olivia is at the centre of this feud. So is the girl she's suspected of killing. If Chris is to find out what really happened, he needs to learn everything about his daughter… but he's beginning to realise he hardly knows her at all. Chris wants to believe Olivia is innocent, but belief is only the first step. Now he has to prove it. And all the while, the Barron boys are waiting, baying for her blood.