In June 1999, Sacramento Homicide Detective Lt. Red Dalton loses his son Corry to kidnapping and murder. The killer isn't immediately found and Dalton must cope with intense guilt and struggle to find redemption. In 2001 a serial killer is stalking Sacramento, leaving several murder victims in his wake. The serial killer, known as the Cougar, engages Dalton in a tense game of cat and mouse. Dalton and his partner, GQ Max Brookfield, embark on a bizarre journey to the gay community of San Francisco which results in Dalton being hospitalized following a bomb blast. After returning to Sacramento, Dalton unravels the identity of the Cougar in a perplexing mystery shrouded in mental illness, child abuse and incest. In one horrifying moment, Dalton discovers his son's murderer. As Dalton closes in, his partner is captured by the Cougar at a remote cabin near Lake Tahoe. During a rescue effort, Dalton is wounded but relentlessly pursues the Cougar into a wilderness area. A strange twist of fate occurs that eventually determines who lives and who dies.