Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working when she receives a video link that appears to be from her niece, Lucy. But how can it be? It's clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago. As Scarpetta watches, she begins to learn frightening secrets about her niece. The diabolical presence behind what unfolds seems obvious – but strangely, not to the FBI, who begin building a case that could send Lucy to prison for the rest of her life.