When Cody Benson was a child, he disappeared while on a trek in Oregon's snowy wilderness. Police believed a pedophile, who later committed suicide, was responsible for his abduction. Cody never met that man. Instead, a fugitive wanted for murder, saved him from a freezing death. Now a twenty-six-year-old assistant professor of anthropology, Cody is determined to find his rescuer and secretly resolve his past, but his sideways life is filled with anomalies--guilt, panic attacks, a cat who loves opera, a dog on death row, a gorgeous brunette who's off limits, a motley crew of small-town folks with secrets, a suspicious cop, and someone who wants him dead.