In 2002, shortly after September 11, 2001 attacks, Ray Kasten (Ejiofor), a counterterrorism agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and his friend Jessica "Jess" Cobb (Roberts), an investigator for the Los Angeles district attorney's office, meet new ADA Claire Sloan (Kidman). Jess and Ray receive a call about an unknown female body found in a dumpster near a local mosque, which Ray has been investigating for possible terrorist links. At the crime scene, both are devastated to discover that the victim is Jess's 18-year-old daughter, Carolyn (Graham), whose body has been bleached inside and out to destroy DNA evidence of both rape and murder.