Sarah Gillespie returns to her small-town home amidst rumors about her father's suicide. A former FBI agent, she wants to remain in law enforcement and approaches her father's successor, crusty interim Sheriff Burl Knox. Unwilling to use a woman in enforcement, he hires Sarah as his chief civil deputy. Assigned to prepare the Department's annual budget, Sarah uncovers fiscal irregularities and discovers widespread corruption among the county's top officials, including a trail leading to her father. Already pushed to her emotional limits, a serial killer begins a rampage across the county and Sarah is drawn into simultaneous investigations. Imperiled by ruthless county officials who will do anything to stop her and the maniacal killer's death threats, she invokes the full measure of her wits, skill, and energy to apprehend the culprits.