Willam (no "i") Johnson, P.I., takes on a case from recently retired Hendersonville, North Carolina apple growers, Jack and Janine MacKenzie. His assignment is to follow up on feared assumptions about their son, Jim MacKenzie. Is he hell-bent on retribution for sins foist upon him at a young age by his older sister? The lives of the suspicious parents are now at risk because of a son who has grown to be, Rotten at the Core. Jim's plot to rid himself of harbored childhood memories of abuse must be foiled. From a hunt that begins in laid-back Asheville, North Carolina, Willam tracks the MacKenzie son to the waters off the Upper Florida Keys. Will blood in the water swiftly stain Willam's strategy? Will the son with the rotting soul now realize final peace?