Only eighteen years old, Marnie Becker has an unknown and absent father, an alcoholic mother, and drinking problems of her own. Her uncle, Cal Becker, a former Chicago police officer, has been the only responsible adult in her life, but now that she's legally an adult, he worries that he won't be able to keep her on the straight and narrow. So he's pleasantly surprised when she accepts his offer to pay her way through Raven University and move to Eden, Kentucky, with her.

But on the day of their arrival, she disappears. It wouldn't be the first time she ran away when the going got tough. Has she done so again rather than face the challenges of her new life or has something happened to her?

Cal has hopes for a new life for himself in Eden, and when Marnie goes missing, he doesn't know whether to be worried or angry. But when the beaten body of a young girl is found in Daniel Boone National Forest, he fears his worst nightmares have become reality—or has his worst nightmare only begun?