Maggie Andrepont, forensic anthropologist who works for the Orleans Parish coroner's office, is called on to help solve mysterious deaths of young women found floating in New Orleans drainage canals. She also must travel to Venice, Italy, to assist in the analysis of the skeletal remains of young women whose bodies have been found beneath an ancient building there. Complicating things, he life is in danger as she tries to navigate canals on two continents.