Under the surface of small town Texas are dark undercurrents of suffering and depravity: alcoholism, domestic violence, child abuse, arson, animal mutilations -- and brutal, obscene murder.

Social worker Sally Hopkins knows that it's only a matter of time before the perpetrator becomes a sexual predator, a serial killer with a twisted mind. Sally's burnt out on Houston's big city crime, just shy of forty, and she doesn't want to be involved -- but no one else in her East Texas hometown of Maryvale has the training to follow the tell-tale clues left at each scene.

And the handsome young state trooper who's also been called in to help is helping Sally. He revitalizes her, rekindles her long-buried passion for life -- and together they break through the walls of secrets and lies, to stop the killer before he strikes again.