For a decade, the Magic Box game store in Marysburg, Indiana, has hosted a twenty-four-hour gaming marathon as a fund-raiser for a local charity. Shockwaves go through the town when the newest marathon champion is strangled less than an hour after the event's conclusion. In the parking lot right behind the game store.

Marysburg resident and record store owner Darcy Gaughan isn't convinced the police are correct when they label the murder a robbery gone wrong. When the Magic Box's owner asks her to look into the case, she finds not everybody believes in fair play, especially when gamer reputations are at stake.