During a mosquito-infested summer in Edmonton, Métis journalist Leo Desroches, who has just been released from jail, is called to the scene of an apparent overdose of a young Native man in the inner city. Some white rocks spill out of the body bag. They are not crack cocaine, as Leo first thinks, but rough diamonds. The victim was not a drug user, but a worker at one of the new diamond mines above the Arctic Circle. Leo is led to investigate a smuggling ring and a deadly, billion dollar conflict between Native groups, rival gangs, and international mining conglomerates. 2015.