Claire Decker is a gifted-but-introverted investigator for the San Luis Obispo County Public Administrator who specializes in finding next-of-kin when people have died alone, without a will or any known relatives. When a beautiful young woman is brutally murdered in a nearby coastal town that has little crime, Claire is brought in to help police identify the nameless victim, known only as "The White Orchid." As Claire is drawn deeper and more intimately into the dead woman's life, she begins to push personal and professional boundaries, eventually becoming the enigmatic "White Orchid" in order to solve her murder.