Only one person knows that Walter Fitzroy is trapped in the living prison of his own paralyzed body and she is a psychopath. Jealous to hide her boyfriend, Darlene Trost makes sure that nobody realizes he suffers from near total paralysis, victim of a crime that left him with only the ability to blink his eyes. If necessary, she will kill to keep her secret.

When medical investigator Becca Gull approaches the private medical facility of Vanderzee Springs in search of sufferers of locked-in syndrome, people alive within their own brains but vegetables to the outside world, she quickly learns that administration intends to stonewall her investigation. To confirm her suspicions about a missing patient, she must go undercover and join the army of aides who care for the sick and mentally ill of some of the country's wealthiest families. But as she digs deeper, she learns that nobody is safe when the wealthy and powerful wish to bury their past.