From the first day of the robbery at the Bellagio by Max Jessee and Roy Biers, Detective Ben Thomas is obsessed with finding Biers' youthful partner. For eleven years Ben keeps the case simmering until Biers is released from prison. Finally, when Biers is paroled and unexpectedly heads to Alaska, the gutsy detective is only a few days behind him.

During the eleven years that Ben is stymied, Max Jessee has invented a new and prosperous life for himself. Now going under the name of Mack Jessup, he is living with Chloe Littlebird, an Alaska State Trooper, in the small town of Craig, Alaska. When Roy Biers appears without warning and demands his share of the money, things rapidly begin to fall apart.

This novel focuses on the choices that each person makes that irreversibly change his or her life. These memorable characters show that sometimes very good people get into terrible situations and must come to terms with the devastating consequences of their actions.