The cold war is over, and Keith Landry, one o the nation's top intelligence officers, is forced into early and unewanted retirement. Restless, Landry returnsto Spencerville, the small Midwestern town where he grew up. The place has changed in the quarter century since Landry stepped off his front porch into the world, but two important people from his past are still there: Annie Prentis, his police chief of Spencervilleapart with violence, vengeance, and renewed passion.