The police are convinced that Julia Ransom is guilty of the brutal murder of her husband, A renowned psychic, but after six months of investigation and media frenzy she is free of their scrutiny, because of the lack of evidence.

One afternoon at the the wharf, a respectable-looking man distracts her with conversation, strikes her unconscious, and heaves her over the rail into San Francisco Bay. Special Agent Cheney Stone quickly realizes that the attempt on Julia's life must be connected with the murder of her husband, and reopens the investigation with the SFPD.

Meanwhile, in Maestro, Virginia, Sheriff Dixon Noble learns about a woman named Charlotte Pallack, whose extraordinary resemblance to his vanished wife, Christie, sends him across the country. Although in his heart he knows that this woman can't possibly be his missing wife, Dix is compelled to see her with his own eyes.

As the stakes and the body count rise, Dix, Cheney, and others fight for answers — and their lives.