The tendency toward mayhem that follows Jack McMorrow like a shadow finally sends his girlfriend Roxanne fleeing to the relatively stable urban center of Portland, leaving Jack to nurse a sore heart and mull an ultimatum alone in the wilds of Maine. In an effort to clean up his act, Jack takes a job as a courthouse reporter for the Kennebec Observer. What seems like a safe choice becomes dangerous when Jack is drawn into a domestic abuse case that leaves a woman dead and McMorrow tangled in a messy web of innuendo, conflicted emotions, and mortal danger. It's time for Jack to grow up, but can he do it? Is it his destiny to follow his subjects into a life of rancor and violence, or will he be able to escape the call of his darker side and find some measure of peace?