It is 1994; Ellen Parker, a thirteen-year-old rural Ohio girl, is mourning the death of her cousin Eileen, killed by a wild bullet from a fight between the Steel Riders and a rival outlaw motorcycle gang, both struggling to control the methamphetamine trade out of Butler County. As Ellen and her family try to comfort one another, county Deputy Sheriff JJ Jeffers works with a federal task force to break up the trade but is becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress and his minor role. The summer stretches on and Ellen finds a sanctuary on the farm of her grandfather Tom. Then Steel Riders start dying, apparently in retaliation. But Jeffers is not so sure another gang is at work, particularly after uncovering the Parker family history.While Jeffers wonders and searches, the Steel Riders are not waiting. They strike back at their rivals and those who they believe are hounding them. Ellen uncovers a terrible secret, one that could destroy her sanctuary and her Grandpa Tom, and has a powerful choice to make; Deputy Jeffers, on a parallel track of discovery, also finds himself with a choice, between the law and justice, one that could change the course of his life. The lives of a girl coming of age and a man finding a challenge to who he is weave around the threads of lives of people in Ohio in the summer of '94.