It's summer again in Oceanic Park. After the tumultuous events of the previous year, small-town lawyer Ned Johnston has returned to his usual summer routine. At the same time, Johnston is torn between anticipating and dreading the return of Sophia Ambrosetti, the musician and investigator with whom he had worked the previous summer. Meanwhile, the summer season in Oceanic Park is roiled by anti-immigrant tensions. A group calling itself the Oceanic Park Vigilantes is conducting an anti-immigrant flyer campaign, and an abrasive talk-show host named Walter Braddock is using his show as a platform for spreading inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric. When the anti-immigrant campaign turns deadly, Ned Johnston undertakes an investigation. As the investigation progresses, it reveals that nothing is as it appeared at first and ultimately leads to a series of startling discoveries.