In a deepening twilight, Florida rancher, Claude Collette, is drowned in a lime pit at SOUTHERN ROCK AND LIMESTONE in Quarry County, Florida, a death ruled "Accidental." When his daughter, Chere, approaches Psychologist, Shelby Wallace for treatment, Wallace is drawn in by her suspicions and a plea from Collette's best friend to "look into it 'cause somethin' ain't right." Though experienced at casting below the surface, she backs into crime-solving inadvertently. Her redneck secretary, Willowdean Maynard, and friend, former Navy Chief, Coleman Bedford, aid her investigation from Quarry, to Tampa, to the "river rats" along the Withlacoochee River, to a final confrontation with the killer.