Widowed Joanne Kilbourn is an ex-police officer turned criminology professor. Her husband Ian was the Ontario provincial Attorney General when he was murdered, the murder never solved. Her current home life is on the most part a happy one, except that her eldest son Peter has had an on-again, off-again relationship with a young woman named Christy Sinclair, the relationship which is now on-again. There is something about Christy that does not sit right with Joanne. Joanne's professional life takes a turn when she is asked by an old colleague to act as the on-air crime and justice expert for a local television news show. The first story on which she is to report is the Little Flower Killings, a series of murders of prostitutes. The story has a personal connection to the Kilbourn's as the latest victim, Debbie Morin, was an employee of Joanne's daughter Mieka, who knew nothing about Debbie's past.