Derrick Rice, a Homicide Detective from San Diego, is jaded from long-term exposure to the dark side of mankind. Haunted by the brutal murder of a child, idealistic rage threatens to consume him. When Derrick's former lover is murdered he begins a desperate crusade to find the murderer, and salvage his career and piece of mind.Fleeing from heartbreak, Kate Burke abandons her hometown of Minneapolis and heads to Southern California in pursuit of sunshine, beaches, and beautiful people as happy and shiny as the glorious weather. This is the place to transform my life, she thinks. Downtown Los Angeles becomes the backdrop for Kate's new urban life. She's dating again, her art is selling, and she forges a friendship with a mysterious homeless man. But things start to unravel when the past bridges the miles between her old and new lives, and when fresh trouble pours down with the torrential rain that winter.As Derrick tracks a killer across California, his journey merges path with Kate's and they find themselves in a wrenching, bloody fight for survival.