Sheriff Joanna Brady still feels the acute pain of loneliness and loss, the hole that was brutally murdered, leaving her the hardworking single mother of a young daughter. But Sheriff Brady is the law in Cochise County, and she takes her hob seriously - especially now that the militia movement has invaded Bisbee, Arizona and murder has shattered the small town's fragile peace. An incendiary situation is getting hotter by the minute, and the last thing Joanna wants is another Ruby Ridge on her watch. But her preoccupation with bringing a cold-blooded killer to justice could take a terrible toll on her personal life. . . and unravel threads of family, love and responsibility that might never again be retied.