A woman disappears near the banks of the Pasquotank River in 1901 and her body is found thirty-seven days later. Marshal Tucker Gage must solve the mystery of what happened to beautiful Nell Carver who had too many boyfriends and too little sense. With the aid of his plain and practical friend Megan Bailey he plunders the murky depths of the darkness of men's hearts and the Great Dismal Swamp to find the truth.