After finding a file with incriminating material, Elizabeth Kurtz takes her small son and flees her ex-husband and his mother. Although the wealthy family employs a detective agency to find her, she manages to elude them.

Barbara Holloway is seeking seclusion as she tries to bring order to her private life and her role as a defense attorney. She finds refuge in an isolated cabin on the Oregon coast. When Elizabeth's housemate comes under suspicion of killing Elizabeth, Barbara comes to her aid. Barbara is accused of obstruction of justice, making misleading and false statements to investigators, and faces possible disbarment and prison. She gradually realizes the importance of the secret papers and her life is now at risk as she takes on a killer.

Kate Wilhelm is the author of more than three dozen books and the winner of Nebula, Hugo, Jupiter, and Locus awards, as well as the Prix Apollo. She and her late husband, Damon Knight, helped found the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Clarion Writers Workshop. She lives in Eugene, Oregon.