Patricia Mueller and her children are slowly being poisoned. Circumstances suggest that Patricia's husband is the culprit. The Protagonist, employed as a deputy sheriff, is thrust into the unfamiliar role of an investigator. Reluctant to accept the mounting evidence against his neighbor, he doggedly pursues other avenues of inquiry. In the process of solving this mystery, the deputy becomes involved with an aggravated assault, a corpse, a rural cemetery, and long-suppressed secrets.