A newborn baby is found wedged in a vanity cabinet in a rundown apartment near Montreal, and Dr Temperance Brennan is brought in to investigate. While there, she discovers the mummified remains of two more babies within the same room. Shocked and distressed, Tempe must use all her skills to focus on the facts. But when the autopsies reveal that the children died of unnatural causes, the hunt for the mother - a young woman with a seedy past and at least three aliases - is on.