A girl dies at an exclusive school. Fifteen years ago, the school’s teenage gardener disappeared. As the body count rises, Detective Sergeant Timothy Wallace must discover why so many are dying in his village before he becomes a victim.

The story begins with the murder of the bookkeeper of an apartment complex. It ends with five more killings and the unraveling of the largest act of criminal conspiracy and cover up in Southern California’s history. Whoever engineered the murder wants to acquire the land under the complex, and has hired a killer to accomplish that goal.

When Tim Wallace finds a murdered corpse, his chief suspect is Nicole Carlisle. Tim starts falling for her, but when another body turns up, Nicole is implicated again. Tim's efforts to prove her innocence become a race to prevent her murder.