In 1843, German immigrant Maximillian Bauer arrives in America and carves a violent path across the frontier, marauding through the countryside until he is ultimately killed by his common-law wife, who fears for her family's safety.
A decade later, his son Boyd-both sociopathic and psychopathic-continues his father's legacy, leaving behind a trail of unsolved deaths as he moves from place to place. Eventually, he arrives in Montevideo, Minnesota, assuming the identity of a Baptist minister.
When Tom Hall is called back to Montevideo, he finds himself drawn into a series of mysterious and unexplained deaths. As he works to uncover the truth behind the killings, he is confronted with a dark legacy of violence spanning generations. Love, lust, and murder intertwine across the rural landscape, and before Tom can solve even a handful of the cases, his own life is placed in grave danger.
