Walter B. Frampton, II, Esq., has never been an avid hunter like his forefathers or even his best friend, Drake Wingo. He'd rather be sipping sour mash whiskey, reading Vanity Fair, and listening to Mozart. But when Drake and Cliff Dickens, another old friend, ask him along on a grouse-hunting trip, he decides to go. One ruffed grouse is already bagged when Walter and Drake hear three shots -- a distress signal -- from Cliff. The unthinkable has happened -- the fourth member of their group, a quiet, polite stranger, has been accidentally shot and killed. But when the details don't quite add up, Walter begins to have his doubts: Was it an accident? Is his friend a murderer? As events begin to spin out of control, only Walter can find out what really happened that fateful day on the mountain ridge.