Summer has arrived with a vengeance in Painters Mill and a macabre discovery by three Amish children brings the quiet to a grinding halt. Chief of Police Kate Burkholder arrives on scene to find the dismembered body of 21-year-old Samuel Eicher, a local Amish man who owned a successful landscaping business.

The investigation has barely begun when, miles away, a second body is found, stuffed into a barrel and dumped in a ravine. The deceased is Samuel Eicher’s best friend. What could these two young Amish men have been involved in that led to such violent ends?

With a heat wave bearing down, Kate learns quickly that the two young men had recently befriended some unsavory characters—individuals who may have ties to a larger, more sinister, black market.