Thirteen-year-old Anthony Wolff recalls the fear that paralyzed his prosperous, postwar prairie town after the savage murder of two boys. When Anthony's parents hurry their son away to the safety of a Quaker boarding school, he meets Steve Booth, an inquisitive fifteen-year-old who stumbles on a connection between the murders and an illustrious alumnus of the school. By term's end, Anthony has become known to the killer.