Maintenance workers Merle Hucken and his life-time buddy, Seth, have come across a lot of odd things in their work along North Carolina highways, but the day they find a dead body is a real doozy. This is beyond hacking back kudzu, mowing highway shoulders, or keeping litter in check. This time they've stumbled across the remains of a lady of questionable repute who has ties to the local sheriff who has ties to a vast network of kkangpae, a Korean mafia.

When Seth is implicated, charged, and jailed for the murder, Merle makes it his mission to find the real killer and to exonerate his buddy. He launches his quiet investigation; and in doing so, he deals with local corruption and a truckload of scary thugs who try to run him off the road. When two more murders occur and his baby daughter and his mother-in-law are kidnapped, there's no turning back. Merle's in this thing as deep as it gets.

If that's not enough, Merle has his personal challenges: his increasing weight and his beloved wife Candy's depression. Merle-volunteer fire-fighter, family man, well-known and well-loved in his community-endangers himself, risks his life to restore his friend Seth's reputation, to save his family, and to bring justice to his beloved southern home town.