Three fourteen year old boys, Brett McGovern, Stephen Bailey and Michael Erickson are inextricably linked by abduction and murder. Brett, who was abducted from Indianapolis, fears that his captors will decide to kill him. More recently, two boys from a Milwaukee, Wisconsin suburb, Stephen and Michael, have been abducted, and the detectives on the case know that if they are not found within 24 hours, any chance of finding them is remote and they will be gone forever. A fourth boy, George Tokay, a Navajo, holds a key piece to this puzzle and doesn't realize it. Pete Kelliher and his team of FBI agents from the Crimes Against Children Unit have been tracking the murders of children for the past two years. He believes that if they can find these two boys, they might find the answers to the questions that have been eluding them. He and his team race to find Stephen and Michael before they disappear forever. There isn't much to go on, and each time he gets a break, potential witnesses are found dead. As Pete and his team investigate, the stories of these boys are like loose threads on a sweater: pull the wrong one and it unravels completely. Slowly, Pete comes to the realization that one or more members of his own team might be behind it all. There is injury and death, some of which is Pete's fault and that causes him to question his effectiveness and his future.