When a petty argument with an arrogant stranger deep in a Wisconsin forest over who killed a deer escalates to murder, playwright Andrew Neville’s life becomes a tangled web of deceit—and self-deception. Back in hometown Chicago, Neville attends the funeral of the man he’s murdered and meets his widow, Claudia, and her 3-year-old son. Neville gradually insinuates himself into the widow’s confidence and conceives a plan to seize the victim’s life—his wife, his son, his work, his wealth, and even his persona and appearance. Neville will become he man he killed. It appears nothing can stop him—except the obnoxious Chicago PI who’s determined to prove that Neville and Claudia murdered her husband together.