Eliabeth Goodweather has wrapped herself in the serenity of Full Circle Farm, safe amid the idyllic fields of herbs and flowers on Pinnacle Mountain. The puzzling death of a neighbor's son shatters that peace and sends her on a life-changing quest in search of a missing shotgun.

Traveling the winding roads into the hidden coves and hollows of the Appalachians, Elizabeth finds that the laurel thickets and rocky hillsides are full of surprises--serpent handlers, star children, tongues-talkers, sang hunters, militia men--and murder.