A few months have passed since Bird regained her voice, and life around Saddle Creek Farm has settled into a nice, normal routine of school, riding and fun. Normal, that is, until a neighbourhood woman is brutally attacked on a local side road. When the police don't act fast enough, the situation goes from bad to worse, with neighbour accusing neighbour and a bent-on-revenge vigilante group springing up to take matters into their own hands.

Although she starts by observing the fuss from the sidelines, Bird quickly finds herself embroiled in the mystery itself. Who had reason to attack Sandra Hall? Does the strange man Bird met in the woods have something to do with it? And what does Kenneth Bradley's reappearance mean? As Bird struggles to get to the bottom of the mystery, she learns more than she bargained on about her community, her past, and human nature.