It’s 1938, and the Depression retains a stranglehold on Keokuk, Iowa, a tough Mississippi River town. Cat (Catherine) Black has mustered the nerve to leave the lying cheat she married. Happy with her decision, she dares to hope for a brighter future until the chief of police fishes her husband’s body out of the Mississippi and vows she’ll hang for his murder.

Chief Dexter, who hates Cat for helping his daughter escape his abuse, is thrilled to find evidence to pin the murder on her. In fact, he’s willing to manufacture more if it’s needed.  

Cat finds an unexpected champion in policeman Ed Nelson. Ed is captivated by Cat’s beauty, impressed by her grit, and touched by her fierce love for her toddler son—the same age his boy would be had he lived. After his wife died in childbirth and his brother-in-law went missing, the widower returned to Keokuk to help his twin sister raise her girls and find out if Chief Dexter murdered his brother-in-law.

Though Cat thinks she knows who killed her husband, her prime candidate swears he’s innocent. Soon she realizes someone is out to frame her for murder and kill off the people she loves the most.  Terrified for her two-year-old baby, Cat doesn’t know who she can trust. But her son’s kidnapping  eventually leads her to share her secrets with Ed.