In the tiny colony of New Amsterdam someone is kidnapping and gruesomely killing society's discarded children. When former orphan Blandine von Couvering discovers the crimes are going uninvestigated, she teams up with British spy Edward Drummond to bring the murderer to justice.

But in this growing 17th-century city there is no shortage of suspects, including the governor's decadent nephew; a trapper who may be possessed by an ancient Indian spirit; and the colony's own corrupt orphanmaster. And when the duo gets too close to the truth, powerful forces align against them. Adding to the orphans' plight are the escalating tensions between the Dutch and the English. Can the killer be caught before war tears the colony apart?