Hired by a woman who believes that the accidental shooting of a friend was actually orchestrated by the victim's depraved nephew, defense lawyer Derek Mitchell comes to realize that the nephew is a psychotic movie buff who enjoys acting out violent film plots.
Penn Cage must investigate when his father, a beloved family doctor and pillar of the community, is accused of murdering Violet Davis, the beautiful nurse with whom he worked in the dark days of the early 1960s.
After their daughter, Emily, dies of a gunshot wound to the head, the Golds and their next-door neighbors, the Hartes, try to determine whether young Chris Harte murdered her, or whether her death was part of a suicide pact, as Chris claims.