As a child, Cody Benson disappeared while on a trek in the snowy Oregon wilderness. A fugitive, wanted for murder, saved him from a freezing death.

Now a twenty-six-year-old assistant professor of anthropology, Cody is determined to find his rescuer and secretly resolve his past, but his sideways life is filled with anomalies—guilt, panic attacks, a cat who loves opera, a dog on death row, a gorgeous brunette who is off limits, a motley crew of small-town folks with secrets, a suspicious cop, and someone who wants him dead.