Anna has been assigned a three-week posting on Georgia's isolated Cumberland Island. Despite the breathtaking natural setting, Anna finds time weighing heavily as she works tedious fire pre-suppression duty. Her boring routine is shattered when a sudden plane crash in the inland palmetto thickets calls her and the other members of the fire crew to action.

When Anna and the crew investigate, they discover the plane was sabotaged. Suspicions smolder over the accident which killed both the pilot and his passenger, Cumberland's lone law enforcement ranger. Even the usually unflappable Anna is shocked by the desperate cold-bloodedness of the crime. Will protecting the island come at a price even Anna is unwilling to pay?