After being kidnapped and almost killed by a psychopath, Darla Dar Kelly's only hope was for a normal life with her new business, The Contented Canine. But when she stumbles across evidence that her recently murdered father had hired a PI --and had kept it from her -- her life becomes anything but normal. Suspicious that someone is trying to block her every attempt to solve the mystery, Dar's problems mount further when bizarre things start happening to her that she can't explain, and a recurring dream begins to bleed into her daily life. New secrets of her own hinder not only her search for answers, but also her relationship with Dr. Shawn O'Reilly. With the help of her therapy dog, Merlin, Dar tries to comfort a comatose John Doe that her old friend, Detective Mike Shafer, is trying to identify, and everyone else seems to want dead. Strange connections to her own search emerge. Her old friends, including those with the FBI, become involved as murders multiply and Dar once again finds her life in danger.