A forest fire has mysteriously broken out in the hills above southern California. Meanwhile, Lew Archer has been asked by a desperate mother to find her six-year-old son. Instead, he discovers the boy?s wealthy father, murdered, and buried in a hole in the ground. The mystery will lead Archer to unearth a tragic, years-old history of abandonment, obsession and illusion, where the past won?t let go of the present ? and everything is connected.