At the biannual Highland Games in the small Texas town of Daunder, bagpipe player Nigel Pauley is ruthlessly stabbed with a sgian dubh, a knife pipers wear as part of their costume. Carl Geiger, a fellow piper and Nigel's sworn enemy, is the prime suspect. After all, he'd been seen arguing with Nigel just hours before he turned up dead.

Carl didn't do it, but convincing the voluptuous deputy sheriff in charge of the investigation is another matter, which is further complicated by the growing attraction between them. In order to prove his innocence, Carl is determined to find out who actually murdered Nigel, and why. But the deeper he digs, the more people he discovers who might have wanted Nigel dead. Nigel's last-minute act before he died may lead Carl to Nigel's murderer . . . or to his own death.