A boldly written mystery suspense novel revolving around the arrival of Tess, a deaf woman running from her past, who unwittingly sets into motion a chain of disturbing events as she is forced to share her secrets with the strangers around her. Tess's presence upsets the status quo amongst the residents of a small town in Pennsylvania, none more so than for Cap, the pastor of the local church whose life has been marred by tragedy. The morning a dead body is found outside the church, life as the town knows it is forever changed.

In the vein of Big Little Lies, both the killer and the identity of the victim is concealed until the climactic end, but everyone, including Tess and Cap, has a motive. Maggie, an unmoored woman who numbs reality with pharmaceuticals and strange crimes; Wade, whose philandering ways are town gossip; Butch, a teenager struggling over his parents’ divorce and his own identity; and Robin, who is desperate for a way out of her marriage to Chuck, a violent man driven by self-loathing.