Neighbors are stunned when close friends Louis Matos and Colleen Johnson are gunned down in cold blood. The case kicks into high gear when Lt. Joe Kenda locates a panic-stricken eyewitness who played an unwitting role in the bloodbath.

A 4th of July house party erupts in violence, and a young man is shot dead behind the wheel of a car. Lt. Joe Kenda must sort through a mountain of suspects, until a peculiar clue puts him hot on the heels of a self-styled gangster.