Kate Martinelli, a recently promoted Homicide detective, and Alonzo Hawkin, a world-weary cop trying to make a new life in San Francisco, could not be more different but are thrown together to solve a brutal crime — the murders of three young girls.
Their search takes them to a rural colony, close to the place where the bodies were found. Here they meet the enigmatic artist Vaun, who is hiding a terrible secret from her past and her real identity.
As Martinelli and Hawkin get nearer to a solution, they realize the crimes may not be sexually motivated killings they had seemed. There is a coldly calculating and tortuous mind at work that they must outmanoeuvre if they are to prevent further carnage and the destruction of a shining talent.