Harry Jacobsen. Disgraced failure of a foreign correspondent, fired from a respected New York City paper. Disheartened, he takes refuge as editor for a small weekly in a quiet town on the Chesapeake. The most excitement he sees is when a trio of children come across the sunken hulk of a racing boat, lost thirty years ago. The black captain, Walker John Douglas, had crashed his vessel after killing two women and burning down half the town in a period of racial unrest. Harry''s investigative reporter instincts kick in, and he begins to delve into the history of Walker and the infamous inferno. River Sunday, evenly split between black and white, roils in chaos at his front page headlines. Half the town welcomes the fresh exploration of the civil rights actions, while the other half would rather leave the past alone. The streets are also flooding with tourists as the largest event of the season - a nationally acclaimed powerboat race festival - swells the discussion with high profile personalities and racers who remember Walker''s racially charged legacy. As Harry unravels the threads of time and reveals the truth of what happened during the racial clashes of the sixties, the heat levels rise in the once peaceful town. Passionate emotions threaten to spark a fresh wave of riots the likes of which River Sunday had not seen in decades. Harry races to discover the full story in time to save lives - and to save the town from burning anew.