The passions at Fields University in New Hampshire run high. When the anatomy professor is cut open, Mike Thatcher is assigned to the case. Evidence points to the plant ecologist, Ruth. But there's new confusion as murders pile up. Mike immediately meets resistance from the administration. As he battles the resistance, Mike has his own struggles. His sculptures don't sell, his first wife left him, and he is trapped in his job. The aquatic biologist drowns, and the snake expert is bitten by a bushmaster.

Mike falls for Ruth, then discovers she's the mother of his college- days girlfriend. She committed suicide, and he's blamed himself for a decade. Using accusations and slim evidence, Mike discovers the university president provides call girls and drugs to corporate donors. This releases a cascade of violence that Mike uses to solve the case. Mike, free of the ghosts of the past, turns to a new life.