After Paul returned from Vietnam, he went to work on high volume in-patient psychiatric units, building his clinical skills. He has immersed himself in the work, often with individuals hospitalized involuntarily because of their potential as being a danger to self or others. One afternoon shift a violent, intrusive patent who had previously been secluded and restrained is found murdered in the locked seclusion room. With all the patients and staff suspects, and various police agencies flooding the unit investigating and putting everyone's lives under the lens of the forensic microscope, two different patients come forward as having witnessed the perpetrator-one claiming it was a man, the other a woman. As Paul gets drawn more and more into the case, the limits of his ability to keep confidentiality are tested. When incidents from his own past are uncovered, Paul must make some excruciating decisions to salvage his career, maybe even his life and freedom as at least some of the investigators begin to believe he might be the guilty party.