Night. You wake suddenly. Someone's in your house. Is your family safe? You stumble from bed. You must investigate. If you had a gun, would you take it? If your life was threatened, would you use it? Richard Dane, face-to-face with an armed intruder, does.With one shot he takes a man's life and changes his own forever.The police say it is a clear-cut case of self-defence – the deceased is a no-account ex-con wanted by the law.No one blames Richard... except the dead man's father who, hell-bent on revenge, sets his sights on Richard's own four-year-old son. As father is pitted against father, both men are inexorably drawn into dangerous territory as small-town secrets peal away to reveal a vile conspiracy that will threaten to devour them both.