Detectives Goren and Eames investigate a triple murder, including the son and daughter of a wealthy businessman who were executed in his apartment.

The detectives focus their search on the children's stepmother and are highly suspicious of her story, but further evidence leads them to realise other people could have been involved. They turn to a pair of young nannies with close ties to the family, who have been hiding the true nature of their affective relationship. Interestingly, the detectives examine a television soap opera that must reach back to the nannies' history as children, in order to better understand the motives for the crime.

Nevertheless, it is not long before Goren find holes in their story, and his attention is diverted much closer to one of them who seems the most likely suspect. The key question, then, is why and for what purposes the murder was committed.