Officer Gordon Butler and his overanxious trainee Dakota Ayala are dispatched to a scene where they find a woman named Melody White who has been stabbed to death. Gordon is not surprised. He'd been called to that address several times to confront Jacob Hulsey who had stalked the victim. The neighbor who placed the call to the Rocky Bluff Police Department reported seeing Hulsey there the night before. But when another neighbor says Melody's ex-husband had threatened her, and then one of Melody's co-workers at the day care center where they worked reported a clash between Melody and her boss, suspects seem to be multiplying like Russian nesting dolls. And to add to the difficulty of sorting it all out, Gordon's new partner is making moves on Gordon's wife, and detective Doug Milligan's daughter Beth has become moody and secretive. At least two of the suspects and maybe some others are weaving tangled webs.