Driving with her young daughter to El Doblez, California, Dr. Helena Moore was looking forward to starting her new job, working with her stepsister Fran at Harper Hills Hospital. But when she arrived at Fran's home, she found her lifeless body... The police ruled it an accidental death, but Helena was convinced that Fran had been murdered. Ignoring warnings not to make any waves, she began turning over the long-undisturbed stones at Harper Hills, never realizing that the venomous secrets she would unearth could prove deadly - because in the shadows of the hospital's too-quiet corridors a murderer was now waiting patiently for Helena.