Just as 200,000 fans are pouring into town for Race Week, a body is found in a barrel of asphalt next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The next day, a NASCAR crew member comes to Temperance Brennan's office to share a devestating story. Twelve years earlier, Wayne Gambles's sister, Cindi, then a high school senior and aspiring racer, disappeared along with her boyfriend, Cale Lovett. Lovett kept company with a group of right-wing extremists known as the Patriot Posse. Could the body be Cindi's? Or Cale's?