In the spring of 1991, four attractive young women vanished from an unknown location, presumably on the western outskirts of Houston, Texas. But that was only an assumption, since their individual vehicles were found abandoned, scattered over outlying areas of western Harris County and beyond. Even the actual date of their disappearance wasn't known, since no one, not even family members, knew where they had gone, and when, or why. With the passing of the years, and none of the girls having been spotted, it was presumed they had been the victims of homicides. No bodies had been discovered offering answers to the mystery.

In 2001, Detective Pete Scallion had recently moved from the Harris County Sheriff's Homicide Department to the Cold Case unit within the Harris County Sheriff's Department. He chose the move voluntarily to hopefully find a less stressful case load, with cold cases not possessing the frenetic activity of current cases that must be solved "yesterday". His wife, Marti, whose opinion means more to him than anyone in-or-out of law enforcement, has supported the transition for his own safety.

Scallion and his older and somewhat ineffective partner re-open the case involving the missing girls. Both men have daughters roughly the same age of the young women, and feel compelled to do all they can to find answers for their families. A complication arises when Marti is diagnosed with breast cancer, causing Scallion's concentration to be divided between his hunt for answers about the case, and providing Marti, the only person he has ever cared for, the support she needs.

A witness who was afraid to come forward when the girls vanished from the Earth ten years earlier, suddenly appears with a clue that at first seems thin. However, it soon becomes the first in a series of connected dots, leading Pete and his partner on a serpentine path that takes them closer to solving the ten year old puzzle, while bringing Scallion close to dangers he never faced in his earlier years.