Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. Her best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana's husband finds her it's time for the two of them to disappear again. They have heard about a domestic violence support town: You must apply to live in Rockton and if you're accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. And Rockton has just had its first real murder; they need a detective. But Casey and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.