Police detective Harry Lyon is a perfectionist who likes his condo immaculate, his suits well tailored, and his homicide files error-free. To Harry's dismay, his partner, Connie Gulliver, embraces chaos, urging him to "get in touch with the rhythms of destruction." But when Harry and Connie have to kill in the line of duty, the ensuing surreal nightmare makes Connie's cynical world view seem all too accurate.

When that same afternoon, a homeless stranger with bloodshot eyes utters the haunting words that challenge Harry Lyon's sanity...

"Ticktock, ticktock. You'll be dead in sixteen hours...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn...dead by dawn..."