Doctor Rachael Lord is near the end of her thirty-six hour tour, in the Emergency Department at Beekman Hospital, when a male trauma victim rolls through the doors. The man has no identification, and looks as though he had just been tortured. As Doctor Lord desperately fights to save the man’s life she discovers a key embedded in his intestines. The key is unusual in appearance, but Doctor Lord is too busy to notice. After stabilizing the mystery man she absentmindedly pockets the key and heads north to spend some time with her aging parents. Four days later she returns home to her apartment only to find it ransacked. Having nothing but the clothes on her back, and a car that’s over ten years old, she calls the police. The police are less then helpful and even less optimistic about finding the culprits. With no other place to turn, Doctor Lord returns to work, but it isn’t very long before she discovers an interesting series of events that had taken place in her absence.