Emma Haines is a former insurance fraud investigator with an addiction—kayaking.

On a hot July weekend, Emma and her friend Charles Wellington drive from their hometown of Clintonville, Ohio, to Stonefalls, West Virginia, for a relaxing weekend of camping and kayaking on the New River.

But while on the river, they meet a suspicious kayaker who calls himself Mr. Pearl. They plan to leave him at their lunch stop and call the police, but Pearl doesn’t want to be discovered.

Events turn tragic when Pearl pulls out a gun.

But Emma doesn’t scare easily and her quick thinking and investigative skills help her crack a forty-year-old mystery.