When local ranch owner and matriarch Opal Scarlett vanishes under suspicious circumstances, Joe Pickett grows convinced that her family are responsible.

In her absence, two of her sons, Hank and Arlen, battle for control of their mother's multi-million-dollar empire. The whole town is so caught up in the infighting that they seem to have forgotten that Opal is still missing. Determined to uncover the truth and prove one of the brothers murdered their mother, he is attacked and nearly beaten to death by Hank’s new right-hand man on the ranch – a recently arrived stranger who looks eerily familiar...

At first, Joe thinks the attack is connected to his investigation into Opal's disappearance, but he soon learns that someone else is after him – someone with a very personal grudge who wants to make him pay... for everything.