Will Glenndenning is a medical school drop-out, a PhD drop-out, and very nearly a drop-out from life itself. Now middle-aged, he has settled into a comfortable, solitary life as a science writer and amateur biotech analyst. Yet, from his roots in Lost Mine, Texas, a fortune shouts for his urgent attention—23 million dollars for the sole purpose of continuing a single, futile agenda in cancer research that was in progress in the Glenndenning basement until the death of Will's father.

The narrow focus of study—the mysterious "mast cell"—has no apparent role in the development of cancer, so Will and his mother are lost as to how they should honor the wishes of Silas Glenndenning, MD, basement scientist, without wasting millions of dollars.

When Will's former medical school classmate, Dr. Chase Callaway, commits suicide, Will returns home for the funeral, while also laying the groundwork for his family's foundation.

A few years later, to everyone's surprise, the mast cell research turns productive, largely through anonymous tips received online. When Will connects one of these tips to Chase's suicide note, an investigation is launched, and a cold case turns hot.