When Adam Vollmann, a New Yorker journalist, sees the portrait of a wanted man displayed on the screens of Times Square, he recognizes him straight away: it’s Ethan Shaw. The good-looking Ethan, who twenty years earlier was the high school superstar, and Adam’s only friend, is accused of having raped and killed a young Mexican girl. Refusing to believe he’s guilty, Adam returns to Drysden, the town where they met to investigate the matter. He will soon understand that the case goes beyond anything he could have ever imagined…