For the first time in 20 years, Falk returns to his hometown of Kiewarra to attend the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke Hadler. Luke is suspected of killing his wife, Karen Hadler, and son, Billy Hadler, before turning the shotgun on himself. Many residents in Kiewarra do not blame Luke for taking such drastic, violent measures, considering how desperate everyone has become because of the two-year-long drought. Falk and Luke’s father, Gerry Hadler, discuss the death of Ellie Deacon—one of Luke and Falk’s childhood friends. When Falk and Ellie were 16 years old, Falk was accused of murdering her, which is why he and his father, Erik, moved to Melbourne 20 years ago. Gerry knows that Falk and Luke lied about their alibis and wonders if Luke was responsible for the deaths of Ellie, Karen, and Billy.

Kiewarra’s new chief of police, Sergeant Greg Raco, is not convinced Luke killed Karen and Billy, and he recruits Falk to help him with an unofficial investigation. They first interview Jamie Sullivan, who was the last person to see Luke alive, but the information Jamie provides is not helpful. They also interview Scott Whitlam, the principal of Kiewarra’s elementary school, where Karen helped with the school accounts. Whitlam provides the officers with footage from the school’s security cameras, which show nothing incriminating.

Falk suspects that Malcolm “Mal” Deacon and Grant Dow, Ellie’s father and cousin, respectively, had something to do with the Hadlers’ deaths, but any conversation with either of them is fraught with accusations of the past. When Falk discovers a note Karen wrote with the name “Grant,” he interrogates him, but Grant denies any involvement with Karen. The officers later learn Jamie lied about his whereabouts at the time of the massacre because he was secretly with Dr. Leigh, the town’s general practitioner, and fearing the scandal he would have to face if Kiewarra found out about his sexuality. At the time the Hadlers died, both Grant and Deacon’s alibis check out, leaving Raco and Falk scrambling for more leads.

As mistrust and accusations are reaching their peak in Kiewarra, Falk discovers that Whitlam has a gambling addiction. He quickly learns that Whitlam stole school money to pay off his debts and deduces that Karen must have found out while doing the bookkeeping. He suspects that Whitlam murdered Karen and her family to keep his theft a secret, staging it to look like a murder-suicide. The officers go to the school to arrest Whitlam, but he escapes to the impassable bush behind the property. Desperate with no way out, Whitlam comes close to starting a wildfire which would have surely destroyed Kiewarra, but he is apprehended in time. At the end of his stay in Kiewarra, Falk returns to a sentimental spot in the woods, where he finds Ellie’s old backpack. After reading her diary, he learns that she was planning to run away from her abusive father and deduces that Deacon must have killed her when he found out her plan, keeping it a secret and blaming Falk all these years.