Late one night, Charles Appleton, Jr. pounds on the door of a house in a small New England college town. Believing he may be in danger, the homeowners let him in, but are forced to shoot him when he goes berserk. The police find no connection between the parties. The family is not charged.Eight hundred miles away in Charlotte, NC, the Appleton family grows impatient with the futile nine month police investigation by the Coulter, MA authorities so they hire private detective, Trevor Nash. Twice in the national limelight, once as a returning POW tortured by Cuban guards in Vietnam; later as the Naval investigator who prosecuted Operation Tailgate, a rape scandal involving male Navy flying officers, Nash is sidetracked because of the over-zealous prosecution of an old-boy bank executive. He eagerly accepts the case.In spite of Nash's prickly reputation, Charles Appleton, Sr. decides that he is the man for the job. Nash puts aside his personal investigation into the fifteen-year-old attempted assassination of his friend, Owen Bannister, the former black mayor of Charlotte, NC and flies to Coulter.Because one of the victims of Operation Tailgate was a Coulter native, the local authorities welcome Nash's inquiry. He divides the case into three major areas: Peggy Loomis, who was forced to shoot Charles Appleton, Jr. to death as a result of his attack on her husband; Lush Puppies, Appleton Jr's upscale Pet Shop business that continues to operate under his former partners; any and all information from former classmates and acquaintances on Appleton's college career.Over the course of the investigation, Nash discovers that the two cases are related and not only Owen, but many of his other friends, including his girl friend, Susie Putnam, are in great danger.