After Emma Gardner, a whip bright NYC reporter learns of her dad's untimely death, she brings to her city to discover the idyllic farming area of her childhood has been ravaged by drought, and it has become a place tormented by gangs as well as the ill consequences of extreme poverty. She understands that her dad's accidental death was not accidental whatsoever. The lists of possible suspects comprise a war lord environmentalists and farmers covetous of the outstanding reputation of her father.