A year ago Thorn s son, Flynn Moss, disappeared into the eco-underground, his only contact with Thorn a series of postcards chronicling his exploits. But a postcard arrives unlike the others, a call for help, Thorn jumps into action, setting off for North Carolina. But before Thorn arrives, he s intercepted by a federal agent who informs him he s too late Flynn had been acting as an informant for the FBI, and when his traitorous acts were discovered, he was summarily executed. The agent proposes a scheme to catch Flynn s killer using Thorn as bait. Thorn, full of rage, accepts the job if only to get his hands on his son s killer. The mission takes him to a small town where the gang is holed up, planning an attack on a hog farming operation that has been polluting local rivers and spreading illness through the area. Little by little Thorn discovers that thing he s been told is true, and the trap they re setting isn t for Flynn s killer, but for his partner, a woman who proves more daring and dangerous than any Thorn s ever met. She s on her own crusade of vengeance, and she and Thorn make an uneasy alliance. With her help Thorn uncovers a conspiracy that stretches far beyond this small Carolina town.