A wealthy oilman plunges ten stories to his death from a hotel-room balcony. Detective Jimmy Paz's only suspect is Emmylou Dideroff, an eerily pious young woman who claims to commune with saints. Eager to confess, she begins the bizarre tale of despair and degradation that led her into the service of God. Together with his new partner, rookie cop Tito Morales, and police psychologist Lorna Wise, Paz must find the truth hidden in this strange woman's tale. When people associated with Emmylou start turning up dead, Paz and Lorna begin to suspect that there's something much larger at stake than Emmylou's guilt or innocence, and that the search for justice might bring them all face-to-face with an even more elemental - and terrifying - force.