From her first appearance, Hornclaw appears to be a regular sixty-five-year-old woman; a senior citizen worrying about taking care of her beloved dog, Deadweight. But unlike other sixty-five-year-old citizens, Hornclaw made a choice a long time ago to live alone, almost closed off from the world. She has no close friends, nor family members and only lives for her job. The job she chose has the dubious title of disease control specialist. It is during this particular year that events will have begun to challenge Hornclaw's mindset, especially as she is getting older, and she will have to face choices from her distant past, as well as her present. But will Hornclaw make it out alive?
At sixty-five, Hornclaw is beginning to slow down. She lives modestly in a small apartment, with only her aging dog, a rescue named Deadweight, to keep her company. There are expectations for people her age—that she'll retire and live out the rest of her days quietly. But Hornclaw is not like other people. She is an assassin.
Double-crossers, corporate enemies, cheating spouses—for the past four decades, Hornclaw has killed them all with ruthless efficiency, and the less she's known about her targets, the better. But now, nearing the end of her career, she has just slipped up. An injury leads her to an unexpected connection with a doctor and his family. But emotions, for an assassin, are a dangerous proposition. As Hornclaw's world closes in, this final chapter in her career may also mark her own bloody end.