When Harm views the body of the severely neglected, abused and abandoned young girl, he unexpectedly becomes emotionally involved and decides to call in the help of Teresa Coulter to help him identify the child and find her killer.

After Teresa performs her own autopsy, she uncovers some clues to the girl's history that lead her, along with Harm and Mac, to the last place the child lived -- as well as to a recently released convicted child molester.

Bud's first case as a newly sworn in JAG attorney is to defend his father, a retired Navy Chief who's been accused of having been involved in defrauding the Navy when he was in charge of Ship's Stores. Though the two have been estranged, Bud feels a strong obligation to his father, who specifically requested him to be his attorney. Harm is the designated prosecutor, which spooks Bud, as he knows he's going up against the best.

As Harm considers his future at JAG, he learns that Charlie Lynch -- the ex-Navyman responsible for the murder of Annie, the abused child whose death still haunts Harm -- has resurfaced, placing the little girl's twin sister, Dar-lin, in danger. Putting his career decision on hold until he closes the chapter on Lynch, Harm tracks him to a shipyard where the vicious killer is holding Dar-lin hostage. Overflowing with anger against all Lynch's grisly acts of murder, Harm finds himself in an intense stand-off with him that will leave only one man standing.