Blind psychiatrist Mark Angelotti is faced with his most troubling case yet when he is asked to evaluate Rachel Lazarus, the estranged wife of a slain University of Chicago professor.

Months earlier, the professor's body was found stuffed into one of the exhibits at "Scav," the school's world-famous annual scavenger hunt, and—in a feast for the press—missing a vital piece of its anatomy. Though she's confessed to her husband's murder, Rachel is mounting a battered woman's defense.

Forced into helping the prosecution, Mark becomes unsure of his objectivity when his investigation uncovers uncomfortable parallels between Rachel's history and his own. That concern proves well-founded when his damaging admission at trial all but convicts Rachel. Then a tip connects the case to another suspected murder and evidence that Rachel may not be guilty after all. As he plows ahead during a brutal Chicago winter, Mark soon learns he has far more to worry about than treacherous snow and ice: someone will do anything to guarantee that Rachel takes the fall.