Lieutenant Joe Boyd gets some surprising news from his wife, Kate. He barely has time to process it when he's given an assignment to confront an aging ex-con, just paroled for a brutal murder committed 36 years ago. The man's on his way back there now, even though he has no friends and no family left in Culpepper. The chief's convinced this can only mean trouble. When Joe and his partner Hank visit Sam Clemens, their instincts tell them there might be more to this story than anyone imagines. Much more. But their captain, the courts, and everyone else in town believes this murder was solved decades ago. Are they right? Is a paroled killer coming back to town now? Or has the real killer been here all along, roaming the streets of their lovely little town?