Plot summary

One can tell that Erica Bain loves New York City - where she lives - by the poetic way she speaks on her local radio show about the walks she takes around the city. That all changes when, out for a walk with her fiancé David Kirmani and their dog one evening, they are viciously attacked and beaten, she left in a coma for three weeks and he who succumbs to his injuries. One of three perpetrators filmed the incident on his cell phone. Finding it difficult to feel safe anymore especially in the bureaucratic manner the police deal with her case, she, in need of that immediate feeling of safety, illegally purchases a 9mm handgun on the black market for protection. While she does use it for protection - she killing someone who would have killed her otherwise - she, out of that situation, begins a vigilante killing spree. In the course of doing their respective jobs, Erica meets Homicide Detective Sean Mercer, who has been assigned the lead in investigating the vigilante killings. They end up striking a friendship in which he opens up about the frustrations of his job and life, including often wanting to take justice into his own hands, especially with the crimes which are known but which convictions for one reason or another are not in the offing. Their chats embolden Erica, who still is struggling emotionally with who she felt she had to become, a woman totally foreign to the pre-attack Erica. Regardless, she may let that vigilante side of her new self take charge until she is able to bring her and David's three attackers to what she considers justice.—Huggo