In pre-Revolutionary Wilmington, North Carolina, nothing is as it seems. Respected political leader Harry Tresmayne has been found murdered beside a lonely road in Cape Fear, and the more his friend Matthew Livesey uncovers about Harry's private life, the more he finds motives for murder. Soon the suspect list includes some of the hightest--and lowest--born of the region, and Livesey and his family face the consequences as a cold-blooded killer is run to ground.