For Detective Dusty Buchanon, a female cop in the very male world of the Northern Territory Police Force, it always pays to expect the unexpected. When the body of a young Thai prostitute is found in a billabong in a camp of disaffected Vietnam Veterans, Dusty knows this is what she's been looking for - a spectacular case to et her back on top after the debacle of an infamous British backpacker murder trial that almost destroyed her career.

But when the body disappears and her colleagues turn against her, Dusty gets help from an unlikely source: a handsome German bird-watcher holidaying in the Northern Territory, who just happens to be a cop. And soon, the case becomes much more than just another step on her career ladder...

Set against Darwin's hustling, exotic melting pot of people and cultures, during the stifling pre-monsoon season known as the Build Up.