Olivia St. Clair, a 72 year old sculptress living on Cape Cod, is charged with the murder (and cover-up arson) of her lover, in South Carolina thirty two years earlier--in 1959. She hires a local lawyer, John Bartlemas, virtually unschooled in criminal law, as her attorney., for what they both believe will be just enough time to plead her guilty for which she will be sentenced to probation. Their plans are soon subject to a rude awakening: the local D.A. Makes them go to trial in which he seeks the death penalty. A mystery novel of lost memory and damaged parent-child relationships.