Cold Harbor, Maine. It's the summer of 1962, and Eli Bischoff returns to Cold Harbor to restore his grandmother's abandoned island cottage. Eli hires the local sheriff and handyman, Gary Cutler, to help with repairs, and quickly reunites with Dar Boudreau, a beloved and quirky childhood companion. The cottage is resurrected, but Eli cannot escape the tyranny of the past. A blissful summer turns deadly when Eli's bludgeoned body is found sprawled on the floor of Dar's dory. Together, and often at odds with each other, Gary and Dar struggle to catch the killer and free the Bischoff family from its tormented past.