Reporters Jack Kellogg and Sara Everson learn from a nurse of secretive experiments conducted by members of the Stratford College psychology department at the private Lakeside Clinic. But after their main source goes missing, they begin an investigation to learn the truth.

Soon they are thwarted by those in charge both at the clinic and at the college. After the body of their informant Nurse Nellie is found in Hart Lake, they meet with a new source. But before Instructor Jim can tell them more than suppositions, the reporters find him beaten and left for dead in the clinic parking lot.

Although the reporters are guided by messages and a personal visit from a man calling himself only “Counselor”, they struggle to piece together the threads of their story.

Will the two find answers in time to write a front page story, or will the forces against them stop them short of the truth?