It's mid-August of 2016, and the Hallorans invite Hollis and Carrie Joplin to spend the weekend at Healey and Caldwell's golf retreat at Wolfscratch in the North Georgia mountains. Although a very pregnant Carrie is happy to escape Atlanta's steamy heat, Joplin is afraid she'll overdo it on the hiking trails. But when the four of them discover a dead body at the Upper Falls, that's the least of his worries.
The victim turns out to be Eric Jaeger, an absconded parolee supervised by Maggie's cousin, Tullie Fitzgerald. When the local coroner and the sheriff refuse to investigate what Joplin is certain is a homicide, Tullie gets her judge to transfer the body to the Milton County ME's Office. During the autopsy, Carrie discovers a large tattoo of the Southern Cross, the medal of honor designed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, on Jaegar's back. She also finds proof of homicide.
Tullie asks Joplin to investigate the murder and recruits the Hallorans to determine whether her mother, a devoted member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and her brother, who might have had "business" dealings with Jaeger, might be involved. Joplin discovers a White supremacy group called The Cause, dedicated to righting perceived wrongs resulting from the Civil War. Many of the members are participating in a reenactment of the Battle of Tunnel Hill, a town not far from Wolfscratch.
Working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Joplin and Halloran find themselves up against a domestic terrorist plot that threatens to open old wounds and spill more blood.
