It's the late 70s, and a baffling mystery plagues Northern California's popular hiking trails -- a serial rapist and murderer dubbed the "Trailside Killer" terrorizes the area. Investigators find few clues -- until one brave victim manages to get away.

In the mid-'80s, Kansas City women start to vanish. They all share one thing in common -- an odd connection to the same cunning man who calls himself "The Slave Master." Police must be just as wily if they want to bring down this serial killing sadist.