George Rothman, a retired New York City detective, after a contentious divorce, purchases a fifty acre spread in middle Tennessee that includes a lake in which he intends to fish-farm. The property has been vacant for fifteen years. As a result it has been used as a convenient place to store contraband and dump refuse. Rothman leads a quiet, reclusive life, except for one young man--Dwight Clawson. The friendship that develops--except for his daughter Adriana who remains in New York--becomes his only serious contact with the outside world. Later in the novel however Rothman gets caught up in local events after Horace Blanton, a criminal kingpin, is released from a federal penitentiary in Nashville. Because of Blanton's past criminal activities Rothman is slated to become an obstacle in Blanton's future plans. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time compels Rothman to take on an investigative posture that leads him to unexpected locales. The plot than increases in complexity when Dwight Clawson suddenly leaves town without informing anyone of his destination or the reason for a decision which on the surface appears sudden and inexplicable.