Jeff Taylor is fresh out of medical school and prepping for the state licensing exam. He and wife Karen Brady have moved to Fallen Leaf Lake, near South Lake Tahoe. Karen is on the East Coast attending a family reunion while Jeff stays in California to study.

Perusing a local newspaper, Jeff reads about the death of a famous water skier, Brett Boyd, who lived at an exclusive high-country enclave known as Sky Lake. Brett and Jeff were close childhood friends but they hadn't communicated in years. Jeff didn't even know his old friend lived in the area.

In a kind of pilgrimage, Jeff drives to secluded Sky Lake and locates Brett's cabin. A stranger packing heat arrives in a battery-powered cart and tells Jeff to get lost. Thus begins Jeff's suspicions about the death of his high school friend. Within a month, three other water skiers are killed. Jeff devotes himself to catching the murderer. Along the way, he tangles with the darkness that resides beneath the region's glorious facade.