When the police exhaust all leads attempting to identify a murder victim, they have no choice but to move on to fresher cases. That's when they step in.
Alex Donovan (Christian Slater) is an ex-cop who left the force after his daughter went missing a few years ago. We can see he's a tortured soul but we're also impressed by his drive. Alex has maintained ties to the Chicago P.D. through his former protégé, Detective Grace Russell (Rochelle Aytes). Whenever the police hit a dead end with an unidentified homicide victim, they turn the case over to Alex and his team of amateur detectives who are part of The Forgotten Network. These volunteer sleuths have just a few days to identify John or Jane Doe. After that, the victim is buried in an unmarked grave and a killer is all but guaranteed to go free.
When's the last time you saw a crime scene investigation headed up in someone's dining room? Well, Alex's team typically meets at the home of Lindsey Drake (Heather Stephens), a teacher who may be fulfilling some self-imposed penance for a crime committed by her husband. Candace Butler (Michelle Borth) is glad to be doing something meaningful after working all day at a job she hates. Walter Bailey (Bob Stephenson) is a phone company worker whose enthusiasm doesn't always match his investigative instincts. Tyler Davies (Anthony Carrigan) is a paroled artist forced to join the group to work off 200 hours of community service.
A homicide victim dubbed "Highway Jane" was dumped in the woods. Though her remains are decomposed, Tyler is able to sculpt a decent reconstruction of her. Flyers are made featuring the victim's face. Other clues include: an expensive blouse, distinctive black nail polish, a blue tattoo on her ankle and a piece of paper found in her back pocket with four numbers.
The black nail polish leads Candace to believe the victim may have gone goth. She and Tyler check out some local clubs and come across a couple of goth chicks who knew her. One of the girls, Jessica, says victim's name is Vivian and she used to date the club's bouncer, Quint. Walter follows Quint and is confronted by him in a hallway. And by confronted, we mean Quint smacks Walter around. After the tune-up, Quint tells Walter he would never have hurt Vivian. We actually believe the guy, as does Walter.
Lindsey finds the store where Vivian bought her blouse and the team hands out flyers to businesses between the shop and the club. They find the restaurant where she worked and the owner tells them Vivian's last name was Simmons. She quit shortly after having a confrontation with a red-haired woman who was dining there. Who is this mystery woman, you ask? Sorry, the owner has no idea.
With Vivian's last name now known, Detective Russell is able to find her apartment. Alex meets her neighbor, Clay. He reveals that he used to date Vivian, but she dumped him. She discovered Clay was booted out of med school where he stole drugs to deal on the streets. Detective Russell tracks down Vivian's previous address and invites Alex to come along for the ride. Just as Alex is about to break the bad news to the girl's father, Vivian appears in the doorway. The word you're looking for is "huh?" As it turns out, this girl is the real Vivian Simmons. The victim had stolen her identity after stealing her wallet.
The team discovers the victim's blue tattoo is part of a mascot logo associated with a high school in Iowa. Alex shows the flier to the principal who is able to give the true identity of the victim: Tracy Benedict. Her mother reveals that Tracy ran away from home after becoming so distraught by the death of her father. Tracy's sister never gave up hope that she would try to contact them again, so she kept a log of all the hang-up phone calls.
Alex notices that the numbers found in Tracy's pocket matches the last four on the last call made to the Benedict house. The last call came from the goth girl they met at the club—Jessica. Tracy was a much closer friend than Jessica let on. The red-haired woman who rattled Tracy at her restaurant was a teacher from her high school who told her it was time to come home. Tracy realized she was right and told Jessica who she really was. Jessica felt so betrayed and killed her friend out of sheer rage.
At Tracy's funeral, her mother thanks Alex for bringing her daughter home. Alex admits that a lot of people made that happen. The mom asks if they are there with him. Alex simply says, "They're everywhere."