Jessica March is back, sleuthing in Parkdale. Shes on the trail of an extortionist whose known victims are young refugee women students at her school. If the extortionists victims refuse his demands for money he hurts them, or he shows them the doll. No one who has seen it is unaffected, and no one will explain its power.

Jess and a group of female students are chosen to find out if there are other victims, too traumatized to complain. But the group is almost paralyzed by problems of its own: hot disagreements, personality clashes, jealousies, and worst of all, the possibility of an infiltrator. Someone (wittingly or unwittingly) is warning the extortionist. He evades every potential trap.

Jesss "sort-of" boyfriend is also giving her trouble. Excluded from the hunt for the extortionist, Jon feels discriminated against. Jess tries to placate him, but in doing so wonders if shes telling him too much. She wonders if hes passing the information on to his friends, including the very attractive and likeable Anthony, who almost fits the description of the extortionist. Or does he?