While his plane is circling the runway in Detroit, recently retired DEA agent Knox Reeves sees a man gunned down in a nearby field. Should he report the incident or assume someone else will take care of it? A brutal incident in Knox's past has shaped his attitude toward life, and he instantly knows he cannot remain silent. He believes that the dead need a voice, the guilty need to be punished, and the phrase "criminal rights" is an oxymoron. As soon as he disembarks from the plane, Knox calls one of his old contacts in the U.S. Customs Department, confident that he will forward the information to the proper authorities. Unfortunately, no one believes Knox's story, and other passengers on the plane can't verify it. Knox decides to take matters into his own hands, deftly using resources both inside and outside the government. In his quest for retribution, Knox revisits the horror of his past and must lay his own ghosts to rest before he can think of his future. But solving the murder proves to be a dangerous affair, and Knox just might sacrifice his life in the name of justice.