Hazel Micallef is the senior officer in the Fort Dundas, Ontario Police Department. Once having tried to commit suicide and a resulting chronic back injury are the reasons she will never be promoted, the position of Commanding Officer, of which she is acting, having been vacant for some time. Hazel self-medicates to dull the emotional and physical pain. Relatively young and inexperienced but enthusiastic Ben Wingate transferring from the Toronto Police Department to join her and the only other detective, Ray Green, coincides with the first homicide in Fort Dundas in four years, the victim aged Delia Chandler, a friend of Hazel's mother, retired judge Emily Micallef with who single Hazel lives. Delia's throat was slit, but the coroner is able to determine that the murderer posed Delia's mouth post-mortem, with the time for rigor mortis to set in meaning that he/she had to hold the mouth in place for upwards of an hour. With two subsequent murders in nearby communities with similar oral contortions leads to Hazel believing they are dealing with a serial killer who did not want to be caught, the reason for committing the murders in different jurisdictions. Ben is able to discover that there have been similar murders across the country. With some emerging evidence, Hazel consults Catholic priest Father Price, further leading to the thought that the killer is working on a ritualistic religious mission with more victims to come. With Hazel's own history and situation, it becomes a personal matter between her and the killer, arguably more for the killer than for Hazel herself.
