Melanie Starks has never lived her life by the rules. She and her seventeen-year-old-son, Charlie, have been running one con job or another for as long as she can remember, justifying the petty crimes as the necessary survival moves of a single mother. But Melanie is getting sick of that life, and she's more than a little worried that Charlie is enjoying the high of being a thief just a bit to much.

Then Jared Barnett reappears in her life.

Jared has just gotten out of prison after serving five years of a life sentence for murder. Released on a technicality that by no means proved his innocence, Jared shows up on Melanie's doorstep. There's something different about Jared, a dangerous edge that comes from feeling more invincible than ever. He ahs the perfect plan for a big score and he needs Melanie and Charlie's help. Deciding this will be the last job she ever pulls, Melanie agrees to Jared's plan to rob a local Nebraska bank.

But everything goes terribly wrong.

As Melanie waits in a car outside, Jared and Charlie enter the bank. Seconds later, Melanie hears gunfire and both men run out, empty-handed and yelling at her to drive. Refusing to tell her what happened in those few desperate moments, the men have formed a silent bond, one that terrifies Melanie to the core. Because she's been shut out.

After outrunning a police chase, Melanie, Jared and Charlie take refuge in a remote cabin in the Platte River State Park. They take as hostage its occupant, Andrew Kane, a writer who's shut himself away to finish his latest novel.

When Melanie learns that six people were shot dead in the back, she is left to wonder who did what. Who lost control, Jared or Charlie? And why did things turn so bad so quickly? One thing is clear: A line has been crossed. Suddenly there's no turning back, and there is nothing left to lose.