When two lowlifes rob a North Carolina gas station, murder the attendant, and incinerate bystanders, local police quickly arrest the killers at a nearby motel.

But a stubborn judge dismisses the case because the suspects were not read their rights, and the sheriff's office and Lieutenant Cam Richter must face the anger of the victims' families. Soon thereafter, an internet video shows one of the murderers being executed in a homemade electric chair with a voice announcing, "That's one." Facing intense pressure to find the vigilante, Cam's search leads him to western North Carolina and a group who call themselves "the cat dancers" - so named because they track the last wild mountain lions in the region to their dens, where they photograph the animals face to face, or die trying. Cam must hunt this group and the deadly cats they seek, or become their next target.