Vermont Detective Adam Dutton has to make one of the hardest arrests of his life—his friend and godfather, Harlan Wilford, who stands accused of murder. Meanwhile, the slightly reformed con woman, Beverly Laborde, returns to Ironwood Junction to take her first tentative steps toward a more normal life and to become Detective Dutton's unofficial "partner," whether he likes it or not. Neither Adam nor Beverly believe for a minute that honest Harlan is capable of murder, but who framed him and why? Was it a disgruntled former customer of Harlan's antiques business? Or another attempt by the crooked mafioso members of the Northeast Antiquities League to get back at Adam? With Adam and Beverly's nemesis, Mayor Titus Lemann, piling on the pressure, and his wife—who also happens to be Adam's ex—piling on the seduction, Adam and Beverly must dodge personal and professional land mines before they blow up in their faces.