When Detective Cal Sheehan learns no one's heard from his childhood friend Mike "Hawk" Hawkinson in days, he begins an unofficial investigation. Cal follows a lead from Minnesota to Las Vegas, and back again. When Hawk's car is later found abandoned north of Prairie Falls, Birch County officially opens a missing person's case, which allows Cal to hunt for his buddy and investigate the strange circumstances surrounding his disappearance. But Cal doesn't know whether he's conducting a search and rescue or a kidnapping and murder investigation—all as he's dealing with the blowback from a family tragedy.