Rian Cathcart, a 27-year-old black man, is a private investigator of a different sort. He only takes serious cases that the police have abandoned. When asked what kind of laws he might break, Brian counted on his fingers while saying, "Illegal phone taps, bribery, extortion, assault, blackmail, threats—"

After solving a missing persons case, which turned out to be a 12-year-old homicide, Brian hardly has time to celebrate. His girlfriend is killed and his assistant is shot in the chest, so he wants to close Godsend Private Investigations before the agency can even get started good. But then something changes his mind: A wealthy couple offers him $600,000 for the return of a kidnapped child. And since Brian himself is the father of an adorable little girl, he decides that his agency shoud exist as a necessary evil. This time he may break a law called homicide.