In the small watermen’s town of Rock Narrows, everyone’s talking about Helen Swann’s first-born son putting a bullet through her heart—everyone but the Swanns.

Hard-as-nails Maggie and her big-hearted brother Jake won’t let a dead mom and a locked-up brother stop them from getting back to normal. Before their mom is in the ground,

Maggie’s back on the water, trotlining for crabs and Jake’s sanding boats and drinking too much beer. Their Eastern Shore coping skills are working just fine until a prying outsider named Sydney blows into town. On the right side of her own horrific tragedy, writer Sydney Long is on a mission to help families of murderers—whether they want her help or not. Her questionable professional ethics endanger Jake, Maggie and the Rock Narrows community.

As Sydney secretly uncovers the motives behind Helen’s murder and becomes entangled with Jake and Maggie, her actions stir up much more than emotions, and a string of alarming and increasingly violent incidents plagues the tiny Maryland town.