Juggling a family and a career is never easy -- and it's becoming a real challenge for Sheriff Joanna Brady. Coping with the impending delivery of her second child as well as a staff shortage, the last thing Joanna needs are two serious crimes. First, the body of an unidentified man is found in the desert, all ten of his fingers savagely severed. Following the scant clues, Joanna learns that the victim was an ex-con who had served twenty years in prison after confessing to the murder of his pregnant wife. In his last days he was seen following and photographing a young woman. Then one of Joanna's officers is brutally attacked and left for dead while on an unauthorized stakeout. Because she's one of their own, the department throws its resources into finding the officer's attacker. But the murder haunts Joanna.