One year ago, Lucy Wild vanished without a trace after a school dance in Crawford's Mill, Missouri, a close-knit farming town where secrets run as deep as the riverbanks. Despite the town's whispered suspicions and hushed accusations, her body was never found—until now. Discovered near the Tarkio River on the other side of the cornfield, her remains bring grief back to the surface and reignite questions that were never truly answered.

Griffin Cole never intended to return to Crawford's Mill, a place haunted by his troubled youth and a strict father he could never please. But when his struggling newspaper in St. Joseph needs compelling stories to survive, he's sent back to cover the discovery of Hope's body on the anniversary of her disappearance. He claims to be working on a podcast to get people to open up, but he's really there to find the truth.

For Griffin, the return is more complicated than just an assignment. He once loved Judith Dixon, now Judith Wild—the grieving mother whose pain is only rivaled by the secrets she guards. Their past was intense and complicated, marked by rivalry with her now-husband, Clayton Wild III, heir to the largest corn farm in the area. Clayton is determined to protect his family's name, even if it means burying the truth.

As Griffin digs deeper, he finds himself drawn back into the tangled history of Crawford's Mill, where the Wild family's influence touches everything and old loyalties collide with buried lies. Teaming up with a young deputy who secretly questions the sheriff's quick closure of the case, Griffin starts to unravel the dark undercurrents that led to Lucy's death.