The FBI examines various crimes all somehow relating to the kidnapping of Sara, U.S. senator Jeffrey Collins's second wife, from Atlanta. First FBI special agent Graham Kelton is in charge, who proved his value in a previous kidnapping case but was traumatized for life by its ending, costing the life of his own son Nathan, takes charge, but quickly finds he's not just dealing with ransom-thieves but facing a complex conspiratorial web involving the senator's crucial political role, notably in judge Wallace Rainer's presidential nomination to the Supreme Court, his first wife Jessica Nevins, their teenage children Max and Marcy, and probably even Nathan's kidnapper-murderer. After Graham's murder in the line of duty, well-connected Special Agent Danny Lucas, dropped from the top, proves as competent and tenacious but faces new, mysterious complications.