Get a road map of Florida. Put your finger on the spot where Osceola, Okeechobee, and Polk counties meet, and push those three counties back a little bit. Next, think back to that long moment in the Florida cattle industry between 1865 and 1898. Good. Now you've got a fair idea of when this story takes place, and where Harris County would be if it existed anywhere else but in this book. Walker's Island is directly under your finger. Move your finger, and you might see a cypress tree growing off by itself. Buried at the foot of that tree is a man who knows something about betrayal. He tries to tell Raymond Pennell what he knows, but Raymond can't hear him. It will be another thirty years before Raymond understands that his choices are what haunt a man, and that the deadliest betrayals are those of his own heart.