Wildlife biologist and writer Summer "Sam" Westin loves the wilderness. But her latest attempt to protect nature may just get her burned… Sam Westin is working on a twelve-week project for the National Park Service as a biologist and a volunteer firewatcher when, one night, she hears an explosion. Above a nearby lake, fire lights the sky. She calls it in and is the first on the scene to do battle. When the blaze is finally extinguished, a body is discovered in the embers. It's a young woman who was working on the park's trail crew for the summer-and she's still clinging to life. Sensing something sinister, Sam starts asking questions. Who started the fire? Was the young woman involved? Does this have something to do with an old gold mine? Is the recent sighting of an illegal bear hunter just coincidence? Sam wants the answers-but someone else wants her out of the way before she finds them...