Tony Evans' life has reached a breaking point: his longtime wife has filed for divorce and left with their daughter, Nicki. In Tony's darkest hour, he is laid off from the only career he has ever known as a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. Tony has become a fading relic in today's information age and feels pushed aside until he is summoned to San Quentin Prison's Death Row at the request of serial killer and condemned prisoner Reynaldo Ramirez. Ramirez asks Tony to publish the tales of his murderous exploits during his final week on Death Row. An initially dismissive Tony soon discovers that he cannot turn the request down after he learns that Ramirez's evil extends beyond his prison cell: he has had Tony's beloved daughter kidnapped. If the stories fail to appear in the paper, she dies. Tony struggles against the clock to glean the significance of every story that Ramirez tells, searching for clues to his daughter's whereabouts. Tony complies with the requests in order to buy time, and to uncover the secrets which will keep his daughter from becoming Reynaldo Ramirez's final victim. Can Tony find Nicki before the final tolling of The Zero Hour.