When Jack Hargrove, Hayden High School's popular football star, collapses and falls into a coma on homecoming night, evidence indicates that he has overdosed on heroin—reminding townfolks of the chilling murder/suicide of Jack's grandparents forty years earlier, and the suspicious "accident" that crippled Jack's unwed mother before his birth. Police chief Matt Olin, also Jack's coach, is one of the few who believe that someone else may have wanted Jack dead. Estranged from Regan Culver, first introduced to readers in , Matt struggles alone to solve a puzzle that involves racism, drug abuse, and the shocking death of another teen. Meanwhile, Regan embarks on an investigation of her own at the old Hargrove sanitarium. But before they can discover the truth, they must first make peace with each other. And time, for Jack, is running out.