A woman is shot in the head, left for dead in a deserted New England cemetery. Her boyfriend's corpse turns up in her blood-spattered home. Now, as the dazed, grieving Sylvia Jackson comes to grips with her loss-and with her devastating brain injury-a brilliant forensic psychologist is reluctantly drawn into a chilling case that forces him to confront the horror of his own tragic past.

No stranger to the brutal aftermath of murder, widowed Dr. Peter Zak is determined to unravel the secrets trapped in Sylvia's shattered mind. Slowly, nightmarish details are coming back to her. But as a deadly scenario emerges, Peter can't help wondering: are Sylvia's fragmented recollections true memories? Or were they painstakingly planted in her mind by someone close to her...someone bent on getting away with murder...