In 1999 New York City, Tetraplegia forensic science expert Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) is bed-bound after an accident that left him completely Paralysis from the neck down. Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie), a newly recruited Police officer, discovers a mutilated corpse buried at a American Civil War-era railroad bed. Due to clue-like objects found at the crime scene, Rhyme concludes that the scene was staged and subsequently teams up with an initially hesitant Amelia, impressed by her natural forensic instincts.