As Quincy celebrates Independence Day aboard his boat with Lee, the local sheriff motors over and reports a young man found suffering from pain and breathing problems. Quincy saves the boy's life, and at the hospital finds the spine of a stonefish, one of the most toxic fish know. Except the stonefish isn't native to the California coast! Have the deadly fish migrated there, or is something else going on? When Quincy tries to learn which, powerful men in Washington start to get nervous...