Those words are whispered to Joe, but from who? He only hears the voice.

Joe is an out-of-work investigative reporter drowning in drink, prescription drugs, and a disgrace not of his own making. In the bleakness, he stumbles across the case of Maggie, an inmate who has always maintained her innocence, even after being convicted of child neglect.

Spurred on by the inexplicable voice, Joe sets out to uncover the truth of Maggie's mysterious case. Joe corresponds with Maggie from prison along the way, and they develop a connection as he journeys from his antiseptic apartment in New York to a quiet corner of Oklahoma, a dusty Texas border town, and finally finding himself in the hardscrabble countryside of Mexico.

Ultimately, Joe must contend with a looming threat, seeking to guard a long-held secret in Whispered Word, a work of fiction based on a true story.