After struggling to have a child, married lawyers Claire and Zach enlist the help of their friend, Liz to be a surrogate, and she successfully gives birth to baby Owen. But when their surrogate-turned-nanny disappears under mysterious circumstances, the couple struggles to take care of their newborn without any help. Soon thereafter, though, a woman claiming to be the surrogate's childhood nanny offers to be the couple's new nanny. Desperate for help, the couple agrees to hire her, not realizing that their new nanny plans to take their baby for her own family.

While hosting the annual gathering of the Association for the Study of American Archaeology at Kenzer College, Emma Fielding is thrust into the midst of a murder mystery when the President of her organization is poisoned on the eve of announcing her successor. With many of the leading archaeologists present having expressed their entitlement to the presidency prior to the murder, Emma and FBI pal Jim Conner have plenty of likely suspects from which to choose.