Sheriff Heidi Kick has a dead body on her hands: a homeless young man last seen alive miles from the Bad Axe. The medical examiner confirms what Sheriff Kick has been experiencing in her own reoccurring nightmares of late: the victim was buried alive. As the relentless summer heat bears down and more bodies are discovered, Sheriff Kick also finds herself embroiled in a nasty re-election campaign, and as her family troubles made public. Leroy Fanta, editor-in-chief of the local paper and a Vietnam veteran, believes the homeless man might be tied to a reclusive man writing deranged letters to the opinions section for years.