New York City politics have always been filled with intrigue and shady deals. Assistant DA Alex Cooper and her NYPD colleagues find themselves investigating a shipwreck involving human cargo – illegally trafficked immigrants – at the same time a sex scandal threatens the career of a promising young congressman. When Alex discovers that a young woman who died in the wreck and the congressman's murdered lover have the same tattoo – the brand of the mastermind behind the trafficking operation – she realizes that the city's entire political landscape hangs in the balance