A tale of personal betrayal and corporate neglect. Nicholas Baran lives in a suburb where cancer is more common than car accidents. Hometown Chemical has a history of polluting the river and adjacent lands. Now that the plant is shut down, local developers are happy to forget the area's toxic past in favor of building upscale housing developments. But the past will not be forgotten in the number of children stricken with cancer at the local school or in the numerous victims in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Having recently survived leukemia himself, Nicky is willing to risk everything–marital strife, public scorn, even a relapse–to expose the truth about the facility. Marc Martineau, local real-estate developer and president of the homeowners' association, is just as prepared to stop him. Their families and the local community are caught in the middle. This absorbing novel is as much about the price a family must pay for a man's personal crusade as it is about environmental pollution. Readers are offered realistic truths that can lead to intense debate: Which is more important–responsibility to family or fidelity to a cause?