When Lark and Jay Dodge move to Washington State's Shoalwater Peninsula, life falls into a rhythm of house renovation and baby-making until Lark's new neighbor, Bonnie, finds a corpse on the beach. The victim, an outspoken advocate of development, is the ex-wife of another neighbor, a novelist whose house burns in a mysterious fire when he refuses to sell. Circumstantial evidence makes him the prime suspect, but Lark isn't convinced and neither is Bonnie. What they discover puts their lives in jeopardy.