James MacGregor, a brilliant but burned out forensic detective travels to Scotland in a desperate attempt to put his life back together. Plagued by guilt over his failed marriage and struggling with the bottle, MacGregor simply wants to be left alone. However, his best selling book detailing his experience tracking serial killers in the United States brings him immediate and unwanted notoriety.

Shortly after being interviewed by a local tabloid news reporter, MacGregor receives a disturbing fax detailing an obituary of a local woman who is still alive. The next morning he is arrested for her murder when her lifeless body mysteriously appears in his garden. In order to clear his own name, MacGregor is unwillingly pulled into the investigation which has now paralysed the entire United Kingdom.