Nell Prentice has herself and a cat to support, so she can't spend her time as she'd like, reading Homer and the other classical authors. She also can't afford to be too choosy about which cases she takes in her work as a private investigator, but she does have one firm rule-nothing involving a baby. Nothing that reminds her of what happened to Michael, the love of her life, when he tried to save a child. Nell breaks her rule for Laura Reed, a woman devastated by the disappearance of her two-year-old daughter. Andrea Reed has been missing for several months, and Nell becomes increasingly desperate to find out what has happened, even if it means delivering to Laura the worst news a mother can hear. In the course of her investigation, Nell depends on an old friend and makes a new one-a police lieutenant who stirs in her feelings which she thought died with Michael. Through it all, she lets the ancient authors give her direction through their writings, until all the clues fall into place and she must risk everything to see this case through to its end.