Johnny Harris is home again, his too-tight jeans and damn-your-eyes belligerence honed to perfection by a ten-year stretch in federal prison for murder. Now he's out on parole and ready for the job Rachel Grant has promised him to help him begin a new life. Unlike the rest of the town, Rachel has always believed in her former student's innocence. But one thing has changed.

The sullenly handsome boy she remembers is still sullen, still handsome—but no longer a boy. And now the small Kentucky town is alive with gossip and whispers of a scandal, as friendship turns to passion and Rachel abandons a lifetime of propriety in the ex-con's arms. Then the killer strikes again. All evidence points to Johnny Harris, but Rachel knows he is innocent. And she knows she is next—as a shattering truth is uncovered and dark passions explode in the relentless summer heat.