When the body of journalism professor Joseph Teller is found outside his office building on the Minton State University campus, questions are raised as to whether he fell or committed suicide. Both seem plausible since the open window in his office sits very low, and he lost his wife to cancer a little over a year ago.

Kate Cameron, a retired police officer and current real estate broker, gets involved when her boyfriend, editor of the local paper and former student of Teller's, asks her to investigate the death in order to make certain the truth is revealed. She soon discovers there are a number of less obvious reasons for Teller's death.

Adding to Kate's woes, Bianca Fitzsimmons, a loose-cannon student intern on the paper, interferes in the investigation, although she sometimes seems more interested in having a romantic relationship with Kate's boyfriend. As the investigation proceeds, Kate finds that she must not only reevaluate the evidence concerning Teller's death but also her own personal life.