When Michael Lee Smith's body is found shot, partially nude, and dumped on the side of the road, the town of Berkley, Michigan is scandalized. Police are forced to sift through lies and alibis as they attempt to track down the killer.

In Payette, Idaho, teacher Elizabeth Baune is the pillar of her community until she is stabbed to death in her own home; townspeople suspect Baune's kindness may have been behind her death.