In the 10th book of the Doug Fletcher series, Doug and Jill's Florida Gulf Coast vacation is interrupted when they're dispatched to investigate the disappearance of a survey team in Big Cypress National Preserve. The suspect list grows with each interview, bringing into question the motives of apparently peaceful oil drilling protestors and a surveyor's ex-husband. Fletchers find the local residents unhappy with the government, law enforcement, or anything threatening their generations-old habits and traditions.

After days of hitting dead ends at every turn, Doug decides to take a step back. A conversation with a local resident makes them reconsider a motive they'd previously discounted. Ignoring a "No Trespassing" sign, the Fletchers pull into a rural driveway and find themselves staring into a shotgun muzzle.