The doors to the UCLA Medical Center Emergency Room burst open and a young nurse stumbles in -- blinded, her once-beautiful face hideously blistered and burning from a savage attack by an unknown assailant. A dedicated physician, E.R. Chief Dr. David Spier is no stranger to the terrible ravages of senseless violence. But this tragedy hits too close to home; the victim is a colleague.

A second violent assault suggests the unthinkable: a disturbed man is stalking the Medical Center, and specifically the women who work there. It's up to Dr. Spier to keep the emergency room running smoothly and efficiently, even as his terrified co-workers wonder who might be next. But destiny is about to place him at the very center of a media frenzy that erupts in the wake of the attacks -- when the brutal assailant himself is dragged into the E.R. in handcuffs and placed under Dr. Spier's care… as a patient.

Hindered by a mutinous staff that refuses to administer to the damaged man, up against angry L.A. cops who would rather see the criminal dead than imprisoned, and alarmed media hungry for a lead story at any cost -- David Spier must now make the most difficult ethical decision of his career. But by doing so, he underestimates the power and cunning of the man he is sworn to heal, and inadvertently unleashes a bloody wave of horror that threatens to engulf everyone and everything he cares about. A single act of humanity has made him a pariah in the eyes of the city