Beneath its calm surface, controversy rages at the State University of Michigan. An outsider, Perry Cross, has been brought in to fill a quickly created tenure-track teaching position, a situation that fellow professor Nick Hoffman finds suspicious. But when Nick discovers that his longtime lover, writer Stefan Borowski, shares a past with Cross, Nick's curiosity about Cross begins to verge on obsession. Things only get worse when Cross is found murdered and Nick's jealous behavior and Stefan's past make them both prime suspects. To clear both their names and resolve the questions surrounding the mysterious Cross, Nick investigates the murder, uncovering unpleasant secrets about his coworkers, superiors, and the university itself. As Nick attempts to unravel the mystery, his suspicions alarmingly turn close to home, and his own life is endangered.