Alex Rourke retires from a solid career with the FBI in part due to the unorthodox method he is forced to employ to catch Cody Williams, a sickening serial child predator, and thus prevent him from ever being able to strike again. The climax to the case causes Rourke such personal trauma that he suffers a nervous breakdown. After a slow recovery, he finds succour in a new role within a small firm of private investigators, run by a one time colleague in the FBI who is, thankfully for Rourke's fragile mental stage, also a very close and dear friend.