Times have never been harder in the rain-weary, economically depressed town of Port Silva on the Northern California coast. Domestic violence is on the rise, a gang of hoodlums is committing increasingly brutal robberies and assaults, and religious fundamentalists are picketing a fertility clinic and harassing its clients.When the battered body of a Hispanic woman is pulled from the rocky coastal waters, the frustrated and furious chief of police, Vince Gutierrez, searches for her missing husband and children. When he learns of the victim's connection with the fertility clinic and the doctor who runs it, a seemingly routine homicide takes an unexpected and dangerous turn.In the end, Meg Halloran, Gutierrez's school teacher wife, must once again join forces with the police to save Port Silva from an unexpected crime wave, and to save her marriage -- at the same time.