Author Darcy Farthing is living in DC with her fiancé, Mick Clayton, enjoying a much-needed respite. As they prepare for a wedding and a romantic cruise, they find out that a good friend, Charlie Scott, has mysteriously disappeared. Against Mick's wishes and without much thought of consequences, Darcy flies to Seattle to help Charlie's partner, Don Freeburg, and daughter, Penelope, cope with their loss. She finds that a prior well-intentioned decision about parenthood has sparked a series of tragic events, which threaten to destroy a parent-child bond. Eager to help, Darcy plummets into the unfamiliar world of same-sex partnerships, surrogates, and assisted reproductive technology. While the police and FBI are still trying to solve Charlie's kidnapping, Penelope also vanishes. Detectives implicate a local clergyman, a birth mother, and a radical author but find no proof of guilt. When Darcy tries to apply her investigative skills to the baffling case, she sustains a vicious attack by an unbalanced killer. Mick rushes to her side, but before the mystery Is finally solved, he too becomes a victim of vengeance and madness.