Detective Winston Radhauser is called in the middle of the night to Ashland Hospital. Ten days ago, Justin Patterson, a local pediatrician, suffered a devastating brain bleed that left him paralyzed and begging for release.
When Patterson is found dead in his hospital bed, the staff assumes it was a natural death. But the victim's son, Robbie, accuses his stepmother, Santina, of murder. Everything inside Radhauser believes she's innocent, but when DNA supports Robbie's claim, Radhauser is forced to arrest the woman he found lying in her husband's hospital bed, curled around his dead body.
Phillip Mitchell, world-renowned criminal defense attorney, hears of Santina's arrest and rushes from Tucson to Oregon. He's driven by a love that never waned, and a belief there is no way Santina could murder anyone.
National news has the country divided. Was it a mercy killing? Or was it murder? How do we put down our suffering animals with more dignity than our fellow humans? Or is God the only one who decides when life ends?
Against a ticking clock and an unyielding DA, Radhauser and Mitchell race to expose hidden truths that could save Santina from a lethal injection.