Dr. Ashley "Ash" Hayes is driven to prove that America was explored by Europeans well before Columbus - a quest that is heresy to the members of her northwest Louisiana academic community. Her quest is interrupted by the disappearance of a friend who has headed into the hills and swamps in search of Native American treasure. She drops everything to help find her friend and is aided by the missing man's brother, a tall and handsome transplanted Apache. The search is complicated by a series of grisly murders which are connected to the brother's disappearance. They find the brother, the killer and someone far more deadly. They also find romance, the treasure and a profound mystery. But will Ash survive to tell the story?