The rocky shore of Stage Island captures a body drifting in the outgoing tide of a new moon. LT Nichols, Laurel, Maine’s chief of police, discovers that it’s the son of Laurel’s most noteworthy summer resident, Randolph Grimes, the sitting US Secretary of Commerce. The case is deemed too big for the small-town Nichols. A United States marshal is flown in from Washington. When she arrests one of Laurel’s native sons for murder, Nichols has his doubts. He launches his own investigation. A host of federal agents line up to shut him down. That’s when the real trouble starts.