While BJ McKay is incarcerated, her sister Cindy is murdered near her home in a small town on the Oregon coast. When BJ is finally released from prison nine months later, she heads to the beach for answers. She finds the sheriff has made no arrests and has no suspects or leads. He's also hostile and unhelpful.
BJ begins to investigate on her own and learns that before her death, Cindy had changed her locks and bought a gun, actions that didn't square up with BJ's knowledge of how Cindy would act. BJ also discovers the outside phone line had been cut. To make it all more confusing, Cindy was owed money from customers, and antiques she was selling through her business were mysteriously missing. No one could locate her car either.
After making friends with some of the quirky locals, BJ gets a little help with her inquiries, but then another inexplicable murder occurs and someone breaks in to search Cindy's house.
Suddenly BJ is getting too close to figuring things out for a killer's comfort. Will BJ put the pieces of the puzzle together in time? Or will she be the next victim of a malicious murderer?