When a trip to her mother's attic triggers a partial bad memory, she realizes she was molested by her 5th grade teacher, before she left the town of Waterford. She wasn't the only one. She tries to find the girl, Alyssa, only to discover, Alyssa went went missing and has never been found. Only Cassie knows who is responsible. When she learns that her former teacher is about to receive an award presented by the Governor, she must return to let the good people of Waterford know exactly who it is that they are honoring. Her only hope is a lone sheriff's deputy Keith Malone who patrols the town.

But that is the problem. He has a past of his own and reopening a twenty year old cold case is the very last thing he wants to do. On administrative leave indefinitely from the Minneapolis Police department, he is more than content to hide in Waterford where crime there is almost unheard of. He decides that Cassie is just a woman with a chip on her shoulder. Not worth his time. Case closed.

As Keith is being pushed by his boss to investigate the case, this forces him to have to work with Cassie. They team up to be the most unlikely pair to unravel events surrounding the disappearance of Cassie's classmate. Cassie must learn to trust Keith, and overcome her fears of being close to him.

Together they will need to figure our what happened to Alyssa before the town completes the construction of a bike path that will pave over the crime scene, and hide her teachers' secret forever.