Dr. Temperance Brennan's students are working on a site of prehistoric graves on Dewees, an island north of Charleston, South Carolina, when a body is discovered. The skeleton reveals all the characteristics of a recent burial - a case Tempe must take. Dental remains, skeletal gender and race indicators suggest that the deceased is a middle-aged white male - but who was he? Why was he buried in a clandestine grave? And what does the unusual fracture of the sixth cervical vertebra signify? Meanwhile, a bullet puts Tempe's estranged husband Pete in hospital, and her emotional response complicates her relationship with Detective Andrew Ryan. The discovery of another body draws Tempe deeper into a shocking and chilling investigation, set to challenge her entire view of humanity.