Sixteen-year-old Cat St. John tries to come to terms with the growing evidence of her father's mental illness and his eventual suicide.

Jack McCall is an American living in Rome with his young daughter, trying to find peace after his wife's suicide. He tells of the dark memories that haunt his family and friends, spanning Rome and South Carolina, reaching back to the terrors of the Holocaust.

A retired heart surgeon, recently widowed, does not wish to confront his terminal colon cancer. He decides to go on a last hunt in his home state of Washington.