One of the most successful journalists in Washington, D.C., Marshall McEwan discovers that his father is terminally ill, and goes back to his childhood home of Bienville, Mississippi, a place he vowed he would never return. Jet, the love of his youth, has married into the family of Max Matheson, who rules the town through the exclusive Bienville Poker Club. Bringing a billion-dollar Chinese paper mill to the town, the Poker Club is offering economic salvation to this community. As the deal nears completion, though, two deaths rock Bienville, threatening far more than the city's future. Joining forces with Jet, McEwan looks for answers, but they find explosive secrets far more destructive than injustice.