In the rural Southern community of Random in 1982, Billy Blake, son of Will and Agnes Blake, has just been shot and then burned beyond recognition. Nobody can fathom the savagery of the murder, especially Agnes whose oldest son, Andy, was declared MIA during the Vietnam War.

Four days later, the body of a young woman named Wendy Allen is discovered in a cornfield not far from where Billy was killed. After having been snatched while running, she was raped, tortured, and killed.

No one can make a connection between the killings, the investigation at the sheriff's department flounders, and the families of the victims have to intervene. Now it's up to Boggs, a disgraced cop turned private detective, to find the murderer-or murderers.