James Cartwright is a private investigator, who plies his trade on the backstreets of Detroit. He is cynical, resourceful, and tough. He lives by a moral code, one in which he believes will help him distinguish right from wrong, fact from fiction, truth from lies. But, as Cartwright discovers during each of his cases, it's one thing to believe in the code, and quite another--to live by it.

In his latest case, Cartwright is called in to identify a young girl who has been charged with the murder of her grandfather. Cartwright has no idea who she is, yet she claims that her grandfather knew him. All the evidence points to her guilt, but Cartwright, believes her to be innocent of the grizzly murder, and sets out to prove it.

As he starts digging into the case, Cartwright discovers this is not a simple case of murder. Dark and sinister forces are at work with plans to redefine the genetic makeup and future existence of mankind.