Winter in Tiverton. Constable Paul Hirschhausen has a snowdropper on his patch. Someone is stealing women's underwear, and Hirsch knows enough about that kind of crime-how it can escalate-not to take it lightly. But the more immediate concern is a high school teacher worried about one of the students. A little girl in danger. A family on the edge. An absent father who isn't where he's supposed to be. The cold, seeping feeling something is very, very wrong.