Toni Donovan teaches science in a small high school in the Missouri heartland. As a devoted wife and mother of two young sons, she leads a quiet and orderly existence-until she discovers the district's missing superintendent, a woman she hated, in the body farm kept by her forensics class. The victim was a tyrant and manipulator, and Toni senses there are secrets in the halls of academia that no one suspects. When, with the instincts of a scientist, Toni delves deeper into the murder investigation, she finds herself facing more problems than just preparing for classes and dealing with unruly students. When her younger son, whose dream prompted her to the location of the body, is threatened, Toni learns that danger and terror do happen in a small town, and that she must not allow hate to overtake her life. Determined to stop a killer, her quest leads her into a series of discoveries that could cost Toni her own life.