It's the peak of the tourist season on the Connecticut gold coast. But this is no ordinary July for the picture-perfect village of Dorset - or for transplanted New York film critic Mitch Berger and his alluring love, resident State Trooper Desiree Mitry.

When famous - and combustible - movie star Tito Molino plunges to his death from a cliff just outside town, Mitry's investigation - along with a ravenous celebrity press corps and gawkers by the thousands - threatens to reveal secrets too terrible to imagine. Events are made even worse when the investigation implicates Mitch and Desiree's close friends, and possibly even Mitch himself.