Late one winter afternoon in upstate New York, George Clare comes home to find his wife murdered and their three-year-old daughter alone in her room down the hall. And he is the immediate suspect --- the question of his guilt echoing in a story shot through with secrets both personal and professional. While his parents rescue him from suspicion, a persistent cop is stymied at every turn in proving Clare a heartless murderer. The pall of death is ongoing and relentless; behind one crime are others, and more than 20 years will pass before a hard kind of justice is finally served.