Through no fault of her own, rookie reporter Neila Andersen has just landed an assignment from her irascible editor at the Boston Mercury that could win her a Pulitzer Prize. All she has to do is find out why Boston's most prominent geneticist, Nobel Laureate Dr. Frank Goodman was viciously assaulted by his childhood rival Christian Slaughter, a Harvard classmate who for two decades has practiced medicine in obscurity at a public clinic. As a medical resident at Mass General 22 years earlier, Goodman fell in love with Scandinavian beauty, Elena Jensen. However, Goodman lost her to his friend, rival, and fellow resident Dr. Christian Slaughter. Both men were irreparably damaged and have since been haunted by Elena's mysterious death on her wedding day to Christian. While unearthing the story behind the assault, Neila finds herself immersed a long-running feud and enigmatically attracted to the now middle-aged Slaughter even though he is clearly in love another woman. Just as puzzling to Neila is Goodman's more than just professional interest in her. By opening up a 22-year-old cold case about a hot blonde, Neila finds herself caught up in a story so bizarre it forces her to examine a past, present, and future too horrific to contemplate.