Christmas is coming and all is far from calm in Pointe Judah, Louisiana. Newcomer Christian DeAngelo -- Angel to his friends -- is at his wit's end trying to manage Sonny, the hotheaded nineteen-year-old everyone believes is his nephew. In fact, Sonny is the orphaned son of a notorious mob boss, a protected witness . . . and Angel's responsibility.

Angel has been commiserating with Eileen Moggeridge, whose lonely son Aaron has latched on to Sonny and gotten into deeper trouble than ever. But nothing could prepare Angel and Eileen for the boys' latest crisis: as they are horsing around in the swamp one afternoon, a shot rings out. Aaron is hit, but was the bullet meant for Sonny?

Suddenly, a goodwill toward men is in short supply and Angel doesn't know who's more dangerous: the hoodoo mystic with an eerie hold over the boys, the hit man roaming the bayou or Eileen's volatile ex-husband, Chuck.