The Cold War is over, and Keith Landry, one of the nation's top intelligence officers, is forced into early and unwanted retirement.

Restless, Landry returns to Spencerville, the small Midwestern town where he grew up. The place has changed in the quarter century since Landry stepped off his front porch into the world, but two important people from his past are still there. The first is Annie Prentis, his school sweetheart and college lover. The second is Cliff Baxter, the high school bully, Landry's rival, and now the police chief of Spencerville and the jealous and possessive husband of Annie Prentis.

They're all about to come together again -- and rip Spencerville apart with violence, vengeance, and renewed passion.