Audrey Baker is a police officer in the mountain hamlet of Griffith Falls, Washington. Several years have passed since her sister went missing and she is still trying to nurse the painful wounds that have come with the unsolved disappearance. The tragedy inspired her to join the local police department as she seeks some sort of closure by investing her life in protecting others.

Ryan Darrow is a modestly successful novelist from Chicago. He has come to Griffith Falls for both the scenery and to gather research for his next book. He also has tragedy haunting him from the past as his wife had surrendered to cancer years before.

Audrey and Ryan find their paths crossing when Audrey fills in for the Chief, who is at a conference. In the midst of the normal routine of small-town police work, Audrey is called out to the home of Tonya Dorsey, whose brother-in-law died in a boating accident the night before.

What seems like an accident begins to grow more suspicious when a local child, Libby Henning, goes missing. Investigating the disappearance, Audrey can't help but feel that in some unexplainable way the two mysterious events are connected. When a local vagrant becomes a suspect in the investigation, it becomes apparent that not only are there little clues being left behind, but some of them seem intentional. Officer Baker must unravel the truth from the lies and find the little girl before it's too late.