Sookie Stackhouse heads north to the Lake Michigan area when she joins the Queen of Louisiana, Sophie-Anne Leclerq) and her entourage for a massive summit bringing together the vampire leaders of the central states. She is there so she can probe the human aides of the other vampire leaders to check them for trusworthiness.

She is looking for a chance to get away from the troubles that have hit her home state since Hurricane Katrina came through and ravaged the area, leaving many of her her friends (including the Queen) in dire straights.

Besides her official duties, Sookie will also be testifying for Sophie-Anne, who has been charged in the vampire courts for murdering her husband, the King of Arkansas in the previous book. The King was out to actually murder Sophie-Anne so it was a situation of kill or be killed and Sookie is one of the only witnesses.

While all of this is going on, the Fellowship of the Sun, and anti-vampire organization, is protesting outside the hotel reserved for the summit. And they are looking to do whatever it takes to deal with their enemy.

Sookie and the gang are pulled into investigating a series of murders that seem to be centered around the summit, but not really tied together. it will be up to them to find a resolution before the explosive conclusion all while balancing her trail of beaus: Bill the vampire, Erik the sheriff of Louisiana, and her current love, the weretiger Quinn.