Chris maple, a news photographer, loses her job and decides to freelance in laguna beach, california. while exploring the town she casually takes pictures of a wedding party, including the bridal couple and some sinister-looking guests. when the newlyweds disappear and the groom is murdered, chris realizes that her pictures may hold clues to the crime. she enlists the aid of her ex-husband, a police lieutenant, to solve the case. her efforts result in an attack on her own life, but she persists until the threads of the mystery unravel. green politics is a subplot of the story, together with the pervasive influence of money and power. chris accepts an assignment with a local environmental group fighting a proposed development, only to find that the project and the murder are connected. good and bad characters shift roles and things are not always what they seem.