Mercer County Sheriff Jack Nevelsen has sworn to serve and protect his corner of Montana, which includes his lifelong home, the small, tidy town of Bentrock. It's a relatively modest task, because aside from some hard weather, the perils of Bentrock in 1957 are few. But the fatal accident at the bottom of Sprull Hill one night compels Jack to try and protect a part of Bentrock that even a hero would have trouble saving: its innocence.

For most everyone in the community would agree that the two people who died in that car had no business heading out of town together.

One victim is June Moss, a quiet girl who had just graduated high school that afternoon. The other is Leo Bauer, the principal of Bentrock Elementary School, and a married man like Jack. There's a story twisted in the wreckage - one that Jack believes will do even greater harm to his town than the accident itself.

So as Jack sets out to unravel the mystery of their deaths, he begins to create another story, a lie that will reverberate throughout an entire community, and into the shadows of his own heart.