Homicide Detective Ned Danes discovers that an ambitious Deputy D.A. has concealed evidence of an accused murderer's innocence in order to secure a headline-grabbing conviction. Danes is warned that a smart guy would keep his mouth shut. More interested in being a good guy than a smart one, Danes torpedoes the corrupt Deputy D.A.'s case, and for his honesty, Danes is exiled to the tiny basement office of the Cold Case Squad.
Working in his forgotten outpost Danes becomes obsessed with finding the real killer whom the Deputy D.A.’s scheme has allowed to run free. But just as he seems to be closing in Danes receives a plea for help from an old friend.
FBI agent Phillip Abbott has been put on leave for his last sixty days before his forced retirement. He has that long to catch a drug-cartel hit man whose specialty is murdering entire families. Completely alone, Abbott needs a courageous cop like Ned Danes to back him up.
While Danes knows that Abbott has a seventeen-year-old adopted daughter named Jessica, it is only after Danes agrees to help catch the killer that he discovers that the hit man murdered Jessica's entire family.
When he adopted Jessica Abbott promised her that he would get the monster who killed her family no matter what it took and Danes soon learns that Abbott is willing to do anything, including break the law and possibly go to prison, to keep that promise.
And that's only a fraction of the story.