Although 23-year-old barn manager Steve Cline doesn't expect to stray far from the horse world, he has enrolled in a private investigation course and is working on the final project. But when his father, racehorse trainer Chris Kessler, invites him to Louisville on a two-week, all expense-paid vacation that will culminate with the running of the Kentucky Derby, how can he refuse? Except, it isn't really a vacation. Kessler has a Derby runner and needs a reliable fill-in when one of his employees is injured. With only two horses to care for, the workload is light, and Steve decides to get that class project out of the way - a simple records search. But the very act of initiating the project triggers a chance encounter that plunges Steve into the world of the ultra rich ... a world where greed, revenge, and ambition drive some men to commit unspeakable acts amid the pageantry and glamour of thoroughbred racing. From the relative security of the backside to the Derby festivities that transform downtown Louisville into Party Central to the opulence of a Lexington horse farm, Steve deals with his own personal demons and strained relationships as he attempts to stop a murderer before a power play culminates in shattered dreams and a bloody triple cross....