U.S Army captain and recruiting commander Kevin Callahan is stabbed to death, his body is found in a guardhouse at Hudson Technical University, a small private engineering school located in College Heights, a decayed community in New York's Hudson River Valley. The message left on Callahan's shirt reads, "No more lies." The news media and pro-military and anti-war activists believe the murder was committed in opposition to unethical army recruiting.
Angered by the biased media coverage and bothered by the army's deference to the civilian investigators in the Orange County sheriff's office, Callahan's uncle, Philadelphia area urban planner Jack Donnelly, wants to conduct his own investigation. He is not afraid to step on toes in College Heights, a community where town-gown relations have reached their worst.
Fearing Donnelly's investigation will further embarrass the university, but, desperately needing his help to save her school, Hudson Tech president Martina Tiernan asks him to become her special assistant for campus planning. While Jack believes that Tiernan is trying to buy his silence, he reluctantly comes aboard. He learns that the murder is the lynchpin to a larger scheme that could close Hudson Tech's doors for good.