When Jess was thirteen, her mother went for a walk and never returned. Jess and her older sister never found out what happened. Instead, they did what they hoped their mother might be doing: survive. As soon as she was old enough, Jess fled the small town of Knife River, wandering from girlfriend to girlfriend like a ghost in her own life, adrift and aimless in her attempts to outrun grief and confusion. But one morning, fifteen years later, she gets the call she's been bracing for her entire adult life: her mother's remains have been found. Jess returns to the home she'd abandoned to find Knife River - and her sister - frozen in time. The town is as claustrophobic and conservative as ever. Her sister still lives in their childhood home and has become obsessed with unsolved missing persons cases. Jess plans to stay only until they get some answers, but their mother's bones, exposed to the elements for so long, only leave them with more questions. Jess lingers in Knife River, caught up in the case and, unexpectedly, falling back into an entanglement with her high school girlfriend. As days turn into weeks, Jess's understanding of the past, her sister, and herself become more and more complicated - and the list of suspects more and more ominous