Ex-sheriff, Cub Hamil, is a widower and an outdoorsman of good character who genuinely cares about the people he has served. He looses the sheriff's election because he has spent more time tracking a coyote that has been killing his neighbor's sheep than he has spent politicking. When a local ex-convict is murdered, a teenage girl is accused of the crime, and newly-elected Sheriff Puffenbarger accepts the accusation without further investigation. Cub's decision to investigate the murder places him and Maggie, the new woman in his life, in great peril. When Cub discovers the identity of the killer, he becomes the hunted as well as the skilled hunter. As the story of the hunt progresses, the reader begins to realize that there is also another story. It is the story of the people of rural West Virginia. The farmers, the general-store owner, the new postmistress, and all the other characters that author, Donald McCaig, introduces us to have their own histories. With few words McCaig lets the reader know what motivates each of them. There is nothing fancy here. The people and the places are real and readable.