When you live in an idyllic New England village, on a river just outside of beautiful Boston Massachusetts, no one expects murder, never mind one that ends the life of a not so well loved a professor, whose body was found at the bottom of an old abandoned subway transit stop's staircase-and he was wearing rollerblades! Was he pushed? Proving the obscure motive of sibling rivalry for the professor's casualty, and taking on the rich and powerful Stone family alone overwhelms and threatens Dillon Delaney's own life. Fighting back, he is reluctantly forced into the role of self-appointed sleuth, and launches his own investigation into the death, one that uncovers hidden secrets of the Stone family and the rebellious son's mysterious skate shop.
Due to his good fortune of winning the Massachusetts vaccination incentive lottery that ran at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Dillon Delaney left his post as a principal and created and conducts a nonprofit organization that is a service learning center - an action based program that commits K-12 age students to projects under the motto of kindness matters.
Experiencing the trauma of losing his parents and the grandmother that raised him, Dillon has pistanthrophobia, a fear of getting abandoned and hurt so deeply that he avoids intimate relationships as a way to guard against future emotionally painful experiences. Instead, he relies on the support of his chosen family - one he must protect and preserve at all costs - those who live and run the shops in Goodman Village, located on the Sudbury River in Sudbury, Massachusetts, just west of Boston, Massachusetts.
Ultimately, Dillon finds his way to shaman-like officer, Louise Renaldo, who concocts an unorthodox approach to obtain the proof that unpacks the truth. The journey leads Dillon out of his comfort zone toward finding a surprise chance at learning to love and trust again.