Randall Oliver is a lawyer semi-retired from a Dallas practice now living in the rural Louisiana community where he grew up. His only active client is his former father-in-law dying of cancer but wanting to drill his last wildcat oil well in an environmentally sensitive Louisiana swamp. Environmental activists, including Randall's ex-wife, oppose the well and have enlisted Randall's brother James, a candidate for Louisiana Lieutenant Governor needing to establish environmental credentials, as their spokesman. Why has James, a champion for civil rights all his life, brought a former Klansman into his inner circle of advisers? Has a radical environment group now resorted to murder to protest this well? What secret is Randall's girlfriend hiding from her past that would lead to attempts on her life?