In the space of a few months, Blake Sanders has lost his job, his only son to suicide, and his marriage. A year later, it's gotten so bad that he can only face the world at night, working menial jobs washing dishes and delivering newspapers, lost in depression and grief.

Blake's world is turned upside down again on a cold November night, when an elderly woman on his newspaper route is brutally stabbed to death and Blake is charged with her murder. Faced with life in prison, his only hope is to find the real killer.

In a desperate attempt to unravel the mystery, Blake learns that his friend had stumbled onto secrets that have been buried beneath Capitol Hill for 150 years. Secrets that are now being disturbed by the construction of the new light rail tunnel. Secrets that will shake the government of Seattle. Secrets that foreign agents will kill for.

On the run from the police and murderers, Blake finds a chance to heal his grief and reclaim his life --- if he can stay alive long enough to unearth the truth.