Judge Deborah Knott is taking a working vacation on North Carolina's lush Crystal Coast, where a centuries-old way of life is as endangered as loons and sea turtles. The frustration and fear the local fisherfolk feel toward the well-to-do weekend crowd and the developers is palpable, and on the bench and off, Deborah can't escape the soon-to-be bloody conflict. On a picture-perfect Sunday she goes looking for clams- and finds the body of Andy Bynum, a peacemaker between the groups. Then the violence escalates, a lover from the past falls under suspicion, and Judge Knott is swept into a dangerous riptide of old grudges and new greed...one that could very well take her life.