The local good-time girl has just been brutally murdered, shattering the tranquility of Lee Cates's sleepy Southern hometown. Everyone in Comfrey is relieved when an outsider who'd spent that fatal night with the victim is arrested -- until it begins to look like maybe he's not so guilty.

Rashly probing into the murder, the blindly loyal Lee learns that not everybody loved the fast-living woman -- though too many men had. Then one night Lee's business is vandalized, and more mysterious events ensue. And Lee realizes -- maybe too late -- that in a community this small, one sister's secrets may lead to the other's death...