Joe Lehrer is grieving the death of his wife in an automobile accident, and at the same time blaming himself for it. He manages to keep his life together and return to his job as a teacher, but is rocked again by the suspicious death of a student.
With the help of his colleagues and his own dubious faith, Joe puts aside his sorrow and investigates the connections between the two deaths. He finds the truth, but also a secret, a deadly secret leading from suburban Stradford to the Governor’s Mansion. Now he must decide whether compromising his own values by descending to the level of the guilty is worth the pursuit of justice.