Emily Perrit, a beautiful but timid young woman married to an abusive, adulterous husband surprises herself by killing an attacker. She can’t forget the fear in his eyes. Never having made anyone scared, she absorbs that feeling of power, and wants to feel it again and again and again. No longer willing to be a victim, her need to feel the power of fear soon becomes an obsession, with deadly consequences Detective Martha Newton befriends Emily after the attack, even as she begins to investigate a series of gruesome murders. As the case becomes more complex, Martha and Emily must make life and death decisions.