<p>During the height of a particularly brutal Vermont winter a woman’s body is found one morning hanging high above the interstate. The woman found with the word “dyke” carved on her chest is quickly determined to be the victim of a brutal murder. That alone is enough to bring in Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team. But when the victim is identified not only as a state senator but as an intimate friend of the governor’s it unleashes a publicity maelstrom that makes a difficult investigation even more challenging. While the anti-lesbian message is an obvious feint meant to mislead investigators it does reveal that the governor is gay and forces her to publicly acknowledge that fact.</p><p>In the meantime while the publicity rages on to even greater heights the police begin to focus intensely on the dead senator’s life. One thing they uncover is that she had a fondness for recreational marijuana. In Vermont however neither lesbianism nor marijuana use justify murder. It’s up to Gunther and his team to find out not just who but why?</p>