Dr. Andrew Carpenter is a pediatric cardiologist and a researcher, whose most promising work involves using embryonic stem cells to repair heart damage in infants. He's been receiving threatening messages from the 'Party of God', a fundamentalist group militantly opposed to such 'Godless labors' - and now he's dead, killed in a hit-and-run on the streets of Manhattan. His devastated wife is sure it was murder, but the police think it was an accident.
Enter private eye Nathaniel Singer, a detective with a literary bent and a penchant for honesty. While once Singer dreamed of being a poet, he has discovered that his true calling is the art of saving lives. He soon finds out that the Party of God were not the only enemies Dr. Carpenter had, as the list of suspects grows to include jealous colleagues and a brutal cop who insists that Singer drop the case.