As a teen, Samantha Fletcher endured a violent loss that she has spent the rest of her life trying to forget. Twenty years later, after finally moving a thousand miles away from rural Missouri, the forty-year-old school principal is starting to think that a better life may be possible here in sunny Phoenix-until a savage attack occurs at a local parochial elementary school.
When the violent perpetrator is linked to her institution, a public high school known as "The Ghetto," the police enlist Samantha's help to track down all who are involved...and discover their motive. She, in turn, recruits a teacher, two students, and a local barrio gang in the hope of preventing further violence.
But as the investigation continues, community hostilities escalate as questions of teaching ethics and school financing inequalities are raised. Striving to navigate her complex responsibilities while struggling to untangle the dark web that produced this nightmare, Samantha flounders to find a way forward.