FACT...in 1989, federal authorities cracked the Cornbread Mafia, the largest domestic marijuana growing operation in American history, capturing 182 tons of pot with a street value of $400 million. Federal marshals arrested 56 men in five states for the crime...but they all came from one small community in Kentucky. FICTION... somebody shot Jim Bingham dead on the street in front of his newspaper office and his heartbroken daughter, Sarabeth, abandons the world of academic journalism for the real-world adventure of running the newspaper he left behind--while she tries to solve the mystery of his murder. She quickly discovers that marijuana-growing has corrupted the idyllic little central Kentucky community where she grew up. The sheriff can't get a drug crime conviction because the county's jury pool is tainted. And she must struggle not to give in to the romance that's simmering between her and a distillery owner--who may be propping up his business by side-jobbing as a dope grower. But after three children find dope money in an abandoned building and the dopers kidnap them to get it back, Sarabeth springs into action, heeding the words on a plaque above her father's desk: Don't mess with a man who buys ink by the barrel.The next issue of the newspaper carries a front-page editorial that declares war on dope. Now it's the dope growers' turn to take action. They have to shut Sarabeth up. And dopers fight dirty.