Young Teddie Crawford is dead from multiple stab wounds in a restaurant kitchen awash with blood. LAPD homicide detective Kate Delafield is relentless in her pursuit and capture of his killer. But bringing that killer to trial imperils Kate's professional standing and personal privacy—and her belief in the justice system to which she has devoted her life.

The suspect claims self-defense—that Teddie Crawford made a homosexual advance and backed it up with a knife. Yet everything Kate learns about Teddie Crawford tells her that his murder was deliberate. And to develop proof of first degree murder, she must find clear answers to mystifying questions for the prosecuting attorney-a woman who has never before prosecuted a homicide case.

Kate is increasingly isolated as she tries to shield her young lover from the brutal realities of this case and finds few allies among her LAPD brethren. Even her partner, Ed Taylor, is loathe to aggressively pursue a case involving a dead gay man and his gay associates. As the trial date looms, she discovers she has a personal stake: the defense attorney is a man from her past. A man with the power to expose the private life she has kept rigidly separate from her life as a police officer.