FBI agent Terrell McCaleb is enjoying a quiet retirement renovating his fishing boat, following a heart transplant. The calm waters of Los Angeles Harbor soothe his healing heart, until a column in the Los Angeles Times unites him with the sister of his donor.

Wracked with guilt over the fact that he's alive because another woman was murdered, McCaleb launches a private investigation into his donor's murder.

This search leads him to a crime more horrific than anything he had ever encountered as a serial killer investigator for the FBI.