When a freak auto accident kills a driver carrying false identification on the remote roads outside Duluth, Jonathan Stride is disturbed to find a gun in the trunk--and the gun has recently been fired.

The next day, a Duluth college student has also vanished, and Stride worries they're connected--but what would have put an ordinary young woman in the crosshairs of a man who has all the hallmarks of an assassin for hire?

Stride's investigation leads him to a film crew in Duluth, where a movie is being made based on a case in Stride's own past. The actor playing Stride is Hollywood royalty, an award-winning icon who has charmed his way to the top of the box office. But Stride soon hears whispers that his cinematic alter ego has a dark side . . .