Ray Hegarty, a highly respected former detective, lies dead in his daughter Sienna's bedroom. She is found covered in his blood. Everything points to her guilt, but psychologist Joe O'Loughlin isn't convinced.Fourteen-year-old Sienna is the best friend of Joe's daughter, and he has watched her grow up and seen the troubled look in her eyes. Against the advice of the police, he launches his own investigation, embarking upon a hunt that will lead him to a predatory schoolteacher, a conspiracy of silence and a race-hate trial that is captivating the nation.