"Hackel, it's about time you got here. We got a report of a floater in the river." Robert Hackel's morning couldn't have started off worse. The veteran Elk County Detective was recovering from an awful weekend and a nasty migraine, and now this. Corpses are one thing - floating corpses are something else entirely. Working with Sara Garcia, the rookie County Coroner, Hackel sets out to discover whether the victim is truly a victim - or just a victim of circumstance. The journey leads from the Snake River region of southwestern Idaho to northern Montana and down to Nevada, where Hackel learns about his victim - and finds details about his own history that he never wanted to know.