Three long-time friends, John, Meech and Hoxie, have decided to take a trip for some trout fishing in Maine’s remote Moosehead wilderness. John is hoping that the trip will be conciliatory after learning of the resentment Meech has for Hoxie over Meech’s breakup with his wife, since it was John who was secretly in love with Meech’s wife for years. The animosity between them ignites when Meech, high on his own ego, kills a huge bull moose that was the embodiment of the wilderness spirit for John and Hoxie. A confrontation between the three of them and a game warden results in murder. John, Meech and Hoxie create an unhallowed unity of secrecy and return to New Jersey.
The focus shifts to the town of Greenville impacted by the disappearance of the game warden. He may have run out on his pregnant wife Sarah, but evidence points to the likelihood of foul play. Suspicion lights upon Byron Trask, a timber company executive who has been carrying on an affair with Sarah while plotting to get rid of her husband.
John Mason, safe at home in New Jersey, is suffering pangs of conscience over the death of the game warden. He decides to return to Maine to find out what has happened since.
They say that the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime. What will John discover?
