Jim Burch, former detective and now small town sheriff, seemed to have found the perfect life. That is, until the town war hero disappeared under mysterious circumstances. And soon thereafter four high school kids go missing. As the bodies continue to pile up, Jim is confronted with a choice unlike anything he has ever faced before. He can accept the apparent explanation, that all of these bodies were the result of accidental drowning. Or he can act on the belief of his closest friends: that an ancient and nearly immortal evil has awakened in the waters of Middlewood County; an evil that threatens every living thing in Harper’s Landing and the pastures and forests around it.