A series of brutal murders darkens the Wrightsburg, Virginia countryside. The killer, replicating notorious murders of the past, seeks to improve them, while taunting the police by leaving watches on the victims set to the hour corresponding with their position on his hit list. When Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are called to join the case, they are already investigating a crime involving an aristocratic and dysfunctional Southern family. But, as they soon discover, the two cases may be connected. The tension is further increased by a second killer who is copying the crimes of the first. King and Maxwell must discover their identities before the body count increases even more.