A newly minted homicide detective, John Drake, is assigned to investigate a seemingly unsolvable murder. His investigation is hindered by an internal power struggle inside his department and by the FBI. He discovers the murder is intertwined with foreign espionage with national security issues. Other murders are committed using the same modus operandi leaving Drake and his partner, Ken Wilson, to untangle the knot. Are the murders the work of a serial killer? Are the murders the work of a foreign nation eliminating liabilities? Drake has to navigate the internal and external politics to solve the murder regardless of the potentially harmful ramifications to his career.