A well-known college anthropology professor is found dead in his team's exploratory trench in an ancient Paleo-Indian midden resting within the pine woods of rural North Florida. At the time, the site was occupied by three students who were former Army Rangers, one who is a Miccosukee Indian, and one who is involved in a scheme to seed dig sites with artifacts that don't belong there. With wooden stakes pounded through his eyes into his skull, the professor's murder looks both ritualistic and particularly brutal. No one knows how he got there, or when. As Midge Sumpter and her partner Jake Leon unravel the confusing details of the murder, they become immersed in the world of academic rivalries and secret passions.