Deason McKindle dreams of breaking free. Free from the ex-wife whose cheating ways landed his fist in his boss's face, free from his dead-end job as a trash collector, free from small-town Oklahoma. In two weeks, his dream of a fresh start in Montana will come true. His dreams scatter when he saves Charis Locke from her abusive ex-husband. The gratitude in her eyes awakens a passion deep inside him. But when he later discovers the ex-husband's corpse in a dumpster, Deason's charged with murder. Instead of breaking free, he loses every freedom he's ever known. Charis thought she couldn't love any man other than the Alzheimer's patient she takes care of. But when Deason is arrested, she can't let him go to prison without a fight. As fate would have it, Charis has finally fallen in love, and only the key to the killer's identity will unlock her dreams.