The small town of Lake Bittersweet, Oklahoma, ain't no paradise, but Sammy Lester has lived there her whole life, and she'll most likely be buried there, too. Don't matter that she barely graduated high school, or that money's tight, or that her ex-con father's on the verge of losing custody of her six-year-old half sister Decca. Sammy can't leave Lake Bittersweet. She's got nowhere else to go.

When she meets charming city boy Brayton Foster, things start looking up for once. Then one dark night, her father, Bobby Ray, goes missing, and Sammy knows in her bones who's to blame. Local drug kingpin Redbreast Tuller and his family of criminals have unfinished business with Bobby Ray, and it seems they finally caught up with him. But the sheriff is in the Tullers' back pocket, and nobody in law enforcement cares about finding Sammy's dad.

As she struggles to keep her family--and her new relationship with Brayton--from falling apart, Sammy realizes that if she wants answers, if she wants someone to pay, she'll have to handle it her damn self. Because in a place like Lake Bittersweet, justice ain't something you're given--it's something you take.