Thirteen years ago J. Shepard's mother rose before dawn, packed a bag, and walked out of his life forever. Since then, the rolling surf has been his only escape, a refuge from the daily stress of his job defending parents in the overburdened L.A. juvenile dependency court, and from the dark, unanswered questions of his past. When J. is assigned a high-profile case, one in which a mother is accused of selling her child to the highest bidder, even a day in the surf won't let him escape. J. can't hide from the media attention that the case draws, nor can he hide from the painful memories of his own desertion that the case conjures up. He realizes that if he does not confront the mystery of his own past, he will always be stuck in stasis, unable to move against the physical and emotional tide.

J. simultaneously throws himself into the case and a search for the reasons behind his own mother's disappearance. In order to succeed in both areas, however, he must rely on his old friend Jackie Pace, a wayward surfing legend with a sordid past whom no one believes is reliable. But J. needs his friend's help, and Jackie must rise to the challenge not just because he is J.'s friend, but because he may be more intimately linked to the mystery than J. could ever know.