A beautiful student is missing. Did she leave on impulse, or was it something more sinister? When the young woman's grandfather pleads for help, journalism dean Meredith "Red" Solaris agrees to help search for the student, but doesn't know she may have to risk everything to find her. Worse yet, without solid evidence, Red and Detective Joe Morgan have little basis for investigation. Murky university politics--and Red's own struggle to keep her job--thwart efforts to find a girl held captive by a man willing to steal what he cannot win.