Once a primary teacher in Oregon, tiny Julia Hampton rises to the top of an elite cadre of assassins. Her quiet life upends with the murder of her parents and sister, and Julia seeks to put a stop to those responsible. Her success is noticed by an organization dedicated to the same task on a grand scale: eliminate anyone importing and selling narcotics. Julia accepts assignments as a contract killer for The Company and makes a name for herself as J.

Settling in rural Idaho to live alone as a substitute teacher in town offers a low-profile base for assignments. Dawson Pelletier owns a nearby farm and looks after Julia’s place when J is away. All goes well until she’s wounded and barely makes it home. She finds her neighbour is much more than a gentleman farmer when only one of his many hidden resources is to become her expert caregiver.

Her thirst for vengeance sated and faced with her mortality, Julia notifies The Company that the assignment she barely survives is her last, and she’ll return to teaching fulltime, but her resignation is rejected unless she fulfils a final contract. Against previous rules of engagement, her target is outside US borders, so she must leave her familiar firearm behind and find alternate means to terminate a giant ex-athlete responsible for importing tons of drugs stateside each week. J must take on a brute three times her size if she is to have a chance to return to the quiet life and budding romance wants.

After told her former employers promised no more wet work, assassin Julia Pelletier returns to her profession as a substitute primary schoolteacher waiting for full time employment. Joyful over reaching young minds again, she leaves The Company, never forgetting a price was once offered for her head.

Dawson trusts The Company less than his wife. When she accompanies him on a backcountry hunt and is wounded by an unknown shooter, he fears the worst. After she heals, and they are offered a long-awaited wilderness trip by their friend, Dawson’s worst fears are realized. Aware of Julia’s former job, nothing prepares him for her ferocious offensive.

Julia switches to the code name J and becomes cold and calculating. Dawson is aware she prefers to work alone, but asks former soldiers he served with to help. J becomes edgier as they close in on their prey, distrustful of everyone including Dawson, even using him as a prop when opportunities arise. The executive surrounded by bodyguards doesn’t slow J’s onslaught, and she leaves no one alive.

Needing time to decompress, Dawson and J stay with their friends while waiting to make their next hit, allowing alter-ego Julia to reemerge. Even though Dawson saves her life, Julia leaves him behind to be a far more efficient killer.

Returning to Idaho without his wife is difficult, and seeing her trapped in a burning building on the news causes him to fear the worst. Then his situation is exacerbated by a ten-person kill team sent after him. Pursued through deep snow and arctic temperatures, Dawson can only fight for his own life while terrified for his wife’s.