It is March in Paradise, Michigan, and for the first time since moving there, Alex is taking a hard look at his life, and realizing just how much he's been hiding from. This is what happens when a fifty year old solitary man finds love again, when he never thought he would. The woman is Natalie Reynaud, the officer from the Ontario Provincial Police whose partner was killed when he flew up to the remote outpost to find Alex and Vinnie (in the last book, BLOOD IS THE SKY). As far as the OPP are concerned, Natalie let her partner die, and she is on leave of absence while she decides what to do with the rest of her life. Alex and Natalie need a romantic break, and they spend the weekend in a hotel in Soo Michigan. But just as everything seems to be going wonderfully, they are disturbed by someone who knows all about Natalie, and about the previous generations of her family. An old blood feud is reignited, one that goes back more than forty years to a dark episode buried in her family's past events whose repercussions still drive men to kill each other. As much as Natalie doesn't want Alex to get involved, there's no way he can let her face this danger alone. This is a man who has been beaten up, shot at, and even dragged behind a snowmobile, all because he's a sucker for a friend in need. How much further would he go for love?