Gerald Richards and his son return to their hometown after the death of his wife. He gets a job working for a local newspaper. He becomes obsessed with a story about a church fire in 1942, and begins a journalistic investigation. During the process, he becomes acquainted with several local people who turn into major supporting characters throughout the book. As fate would have it, the fire is connected to a 1925 double murder involving a prominent Lakeview family. The plot becomes multigenerational murder when the family tries to cover up the sins of their ancestors.
