In the small town of Clarkesville, in the heart of the Oregon Cascade Mountains, a humble forester stumbles into the complex world of crooked cops and power-hungry politicians... all because he rescues a stray, injured dog on the highway.

Lehigh Carter never really meant to adopt the dog. But his ex-fiancEe, Stacy McBride, convinces him to do it, with a promise to help. Their rekindled romance angers her father, state Senator George McBride, who sees her backwoods suitor as a blemish on his carefully created political image. It also sets off a chain of events that entangle Lehigh in...

The murder of popular acting Sheriff Jared Barkley in Clarkesville, a small town in Oregon's Cascade Mountains, puts Lehigh and Stacy's plans to marry on hold when Stacy is arrested for committing the crime. On the advice of her lawyer, Stacy cuts off ties to Lehigh, who remains a subject of the investigation himself by the crooked cops and politicians running Mt. Hood County.

Lehigh's own lawyer, the smart, beautiful Samantha Pullen, works the legal angles to keep Lehigh out of jail, but he ignores her advice to keep a low profile and conducts his own investigation into the...