When Fritz Tullis's career and love-life implode, he retreats to the family property to take time out and pursue his hobby of bird-watching. Hidden in swampland early one morning to photograph a rare bird, he sees a plane land on his neighbour's airstrip and witnesses a chilling, execution-style murder before the plane takes off again, leaving no evidence but the image stored on Tullis's camera film.
A few days later the body of a Russian diplomat turns up in a dumpster in Baltimore; Tullis recognises his photograph as that of the man whose murder he watched. Reluctant to take his story to the police, Tullis starts investigating the owner of the airstrip, James Roach, a CIA official with a murky past.
One murder leads to more, as Tullis gets closer and closer to the terrifying truth.
