Murder has a way of bringing people together. The body of a school teacher has been discovered on a park bench in Florence, Alabama, and soon after, there is a fatal fire in the nearby town of Leighton. The two events appear to be connected, and so do the people involved: an ambitious fire-and-brimstone preacher, his submissive but weary wife, and a chemical engineer with lofty--and deadly--aspirations. They all have their secrets, and they all find themselves at the doorstep of Parker Davies, a reclusive billionaire looking to leave a legacy. Just cleared of murder charges herself, 67-year-old Amelia Leigh is trying to enjoy a quiet life with her dog, Annabelle. But a chance meeting on an ordinary day changes all that, and she finds herself drawn into a tantalizing puzzle of destruction and death.