What appears to be an unfortunate chainsaw accident to a reclusive neighbor at Ben and Kate's vacation home in Susquehanna County pulls Ben and Sergeant Brad Jackson into a whirlpool of activities involving an unscrupulous logger, a young Muslim scientist/inventor who is also a neighbor but largely unknown in the Harford community and, ultimately, three deaths. The incidents affecting both neighbors enable Ben and Kate to expand their Susquehanna County landholdings while initiating them into the basics of the Muslim faith and the 'mysteries" of forest stewardship. The story ends with Kate and Ben uncertain whether to be delighted or dismayed over the blooming relationship between Jenny and Ben, Jr.