Hoping to make friends at her new school, Maddie joins the newspaper staff. Its charismatic editor, Hank Dalbeck, plans a controversial series on the right to die. This causes so much discussion at their weekly meeting that Hank misses his bus home and accepts a ride with Maddie. Before they can leave the parking lot, someone fires a shot through the windshield. Now Hank himself is in a coma, like the people he wanted to write about. Who put him there? Was it someone violently opposed to his ideas? Maddie suspects Evan Steffers, her jealous and possessive ex-boyfriend, who is supposed to be out of state. Nevertheless, he's been stalking her, sending flowers, messages, and threats. He's everywhere and nowhere, and her life is in danger. Even attractive police officer Rick Falco can't protect her from an unseen menace. Maddie decides to carry on with the work that got Hank shot. Digging though old news clippings, she begins to understand the truth. But it comes too late.