The beginning of a friendship and partnership between Bob Johnson, college English professor and amateur detective, and Frank Ingram, homicide lieutenant with the Sioux Fall Police Department in the Crimes Against People Unit, starts with the introduction of Frank Ingram. This new friendship starts on a very tragic note for Frank. On the way home from a long shift he is called to a particularly grim crime scene. The victim was Betsy Sogstad, the woman he loved for the previous ten years since they were high school sweethearts; which was more than adolescent infatuation. She was left near the dumpster behind to local food mission in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The suspect is not in question; it is a matter of catching up with Marty Warren, Frank's childhood friend turned bitter enemy in high school. How does Frank prove that it was Marty who not only kidnapped Betsy while Frank was in Army Boot Camp; but was the one who caused the death of Betsy.