Kate Burkholder, who grew up in the Amish community of Painters Mill, Ohio, before abandoning their way of life for the outside world and the study of law enforcement, has recently been appointed Chief of Police in her former hometown. Her knowledge of the Amish, their language and customs, makes her the perfect candidate. When the serial killer, whose spree sixteen years before was dubbed The Slaughterhouse Murders, returns with spectacular violence, Kate is determined to catch him. But she is also desperate to keep a secret from her past: the reason she fled the Amish world is that she was the young girl the killer attacked before disappearing-and she killed him in self-defense. No one knows, except her Amish father and brother who helped bury the body. So who is behind the current murders? And what is the connection to Kate's past?