"Hello, lover." "You're not her. You're not Opal." The True Gentleman burns up the telephone lines searching for the woman who has seen through to his soul. But Opal has left the phone-sex trade, her identity a closely guarded secret. Elusiveness is not a quality her admirer prizes, and in his relentless pursuit of his perfect mate, the caller reveals he is no gentleman. Soon, the Oregon backwoods become a dumping ground for dismembered body parts. While hiking, Paige Rowan discovers a human foot, still wearing a distinctive toe ring, a ring Paige recognizes. She conceals her true connection to the victim from the police and her new lover, an ex-seminarian. Later, when a human skeleton is found on Paige's property, she is terrified. The police are stymied--the bones belong not to a phone actress, but a young man. A complex web of events threatens to topple the life that Paige has struggled to build. A breakaway religious sect, the obsessive search for Opal, and too many secrets and lies collide in a gripping finale set against a rugged landscape that will be forever changed.