Dr. Riley Smith lives in her head. As a fire behavior analyst, she sees wildfires in patterns of color, her synesthesia transforming weather data into vivid shapes that tell her exactly where the flames will go. It makes her brilliant at her job. It also makes her an outsider.

Jake Sullivan trusts his body, his instincts, his gut, the hard lessons fire has taught him. Fifteen years on a hotshot crew have made him razor-sharp. He controls every variable he can, because he knows exactly what happens when he doesn't.

A brutal Montana fire season throws them together, and the friction between them runs hot from the start. But as the blazes tear through the mountains, Jake's past comes back to find him and Riley struggles to fit into a visceral, physical world that's nothing like the one inside her head. This time, there's nowhere to run, not for Jake, who has to face what broke him, and not for Riley, who has to prove she belongs.

The most unpredictable force of nature isn't fire, it's love.