Chloe Newcomb has traded in her high-speed New York life for the solitude of the Arizona desert, where she makes half a living as an aid to victims--notifying survivors, acting as an advisor to the shattered. But when she recognizes a man found shot in a lonely cabin as a former friend and lover, Chloe herself could use a shoulder to cry on. Obsessed to discover who killed him and why, she investigates the strange route that brought her lover to the desert and to his violent end.