How far is too far for justice? In California, Officer Josie Waller and Detective Emmanuel Cerrillo suspect two bizarre suicides are actually murders. The victims-a teetotaling Baptist preacher who died of a heroin overdose and an ultra-conservative school board member who injected herself with cobra venom-are apparently connected only by their vitriolic homophobia. The suspicious officers launch an unofficial investigation and find more than expected. Across the country, Robert Davenport, a gay English professor at an Ivy League university, is recruited by a clandestine organization "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." In theory, the group wants Davenport to write a publishable manifesto. But he soon begins to wonder whether there's more to his mission than meets the eye. Just how far will he be asked to go? And will the officers find him before it's too late?