When Dr. Jack Carson falls asleep at the wheel and loses his son in a tragic car accident, his life crumbles around him. Struggling to put the broken pieces back together, Carson faces death again three years later when he finds a body at the mental hospital where he serves as a psychiatrist. A note on the body says the killing will only end with Carson's murder. Alex Tanner, the beautiful and intelligent detective assigned to his case, gives Carson reason for optimism. However, the killer, who blames Carson for his mother's suicide, is watching and waiting, whispering despair from the shadows. A childhood spent with a sadistic father has left the murderer with a calculated and awful purpose. He doesn't just want to kill Carson; he wants to create an existence so miserable the psychiatrist will understand the true meaning of evil. Can Carson swim through a river of darkness and come out clean on the other side, or will the darkness prove indelible?