On a crisp September morning, while walking a bucolic woodland trail, Rina stumbles upon human remains. Immediately, she calls her husband, Peter Decker, a former detective lieutenant. As Decker and his partner, Tyler McAdams, investigate further, they realize that they're most likely dealing with a missing student from the nearby Five Colleges of Upstate; a well-known and well-respected consortium of higher learning. And when more human remains are found in the same area, Decker and McAdams know this isn't just a one-off murder case...