When a nervous stranger appears at Emmeline Dowell's glassblowing studio begging to use her kiln for an experimental gem treatment, Em finds it a little odd, though nothing to be alarmed about. After all, the annual Gem Show is in town, and everyone in Tucson seems obsessed by it. Besides, Em's too worried about her missing brother Cameron to pay much attention, until a dead body found in the desert turns out to be linked to the stranger -- and to Cam.