The year is 1958. O'Connor, a young reporter with the Las Piernas News Express, is desperate to discover who has perpetrated a savage attack on his mentor, Jack Corrigan. In and out of consciousness, Corrigan claims to have witnessed the burial of a bloodstained car on a farm, but his reputation as a heavy drinker calls his strange story into question. In a seemingly unrelated mystery, five members of the wealthy Ducane family disappear on that same night, including Max Ducane, an infant who would be the heir to two family fortunes.

Twenty years later, in her days as a novice reporter, Irene Kelly covers the groundbreaking ceremony for a shopping center—which unexpectedly yields the unearthing of a buried car. In the trunk are human remains. Are those of the infant heir among them? If so, who is the young man who has recently changed his name to Max Ducane? Again, the trail goes maddeningly, perhaps suspiciously, cold.

Until today. Irene, now married to homicide detective Frank Harriman, is a veteran reporter facing the impending closure of the Las Piernas News Express. With circulation down and young reporters fresh out of journalism school replacing long-time staffers, Irene can't help but wish for the good old days with O'Connor. So when the baffling kidnap-burial case resurfaces, Irene's tenacious love for her mentor and journalistic integrity far outweighs any fears or trepidation. Determined to make a final splash for her longtime paper and solve the mystery that plagued O'Connor to the end, Irene pursues a story that reunites her with her past and may end her career—and her life.