Jack Field, ex-cop turned dog trainer, and Jamie Cutter, Chief Medical Examiner, are on their honeymoon in Mexico when they meet Reggie Durban. Reggie is in Mexico on vacation and is also from the same general vicinity in Maine as Jack and Jamie. Reggie hires Jack to train her father's dog, Molly. Reggie also expects Jack to keep an eye on her father and provide her with frequent updates.

Upon returning home from their honeymoon, Jack and Jamie pay a visit to Jack's new client, the retired General Lamar MacLeary, a World War II hero, and his dog, Molly.

It is Molly's constant digging that bothers the general most. While Jack is trying to decide how best to deal with Molly's incessant digging, he notices what appears to be a human hand sticking up out of the ground where Molly is digging. It is indeed a human hand, and that certainly explains Molly's digging in that spot. The human bones found are believed to be those of Katherine MacLeary, the general's wife, who had been missing for twenty years.

Reggie, Connie and Cord are the general's three children, any of whom could be responsible for the body buried in their father's backyard. Katherine's wedding ring is found with the bones, but the general is convinced that his wife is still alive. And, well, things aren't always what they appear to be.

It's up to Jack to do some digging of his own. As he starts digging into the lives of the general, the general's children, and the general's wife, he uncovers many buried skeletons in this family’s closet.

With exploding kitchens, a cold-blooded killer on the loose, crazed hit men, and ex-governors putting out murder contracts on county sheriffs, Jack finds himself embroiled in a pretty complicated and puzzling situation.

Jack soon discovers that this case ties in with another case involving Eddie Cole, a small time drug dealer in Maine. And Jack just knows that somehow Molly holds the key to solving this very complicated puzzle.