Wichita, Kansas is back in the headlines. Twenty-five years ago, the serial killer known as BTK --- Bind, Torture, and Kill --- was in the backdrop of Catherine and Misty’s adolescence in Wichita. Now the BTK has struck again, and Catherine is flooded with memories of growing up in the killer’s heyday with her best friend, Misty, who left town for good after graduation.

Catherine learns that Misty has just died in a car accident --- and left her daughter, Cattie, in the hands of her namesake, Catherine. Catherine never had children of her own; her husband, Oliver, is old enough to be her father, but his latest romantic conquest is a woman young enough to be his granddaughter. In the midst of all these secrets and lies, Catherine isn’t sure she can take care of a teenager she’s never met. And Cattie isn’t sure she can face the world without her tough-talking, devoted mother. As Cattie slowly makes her way back west from boarding school, Catherine and Oliver must learn to close the gap between their private lives and their public reputations.