
Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist who works at the Jeffersonian Institution and also writes books, has an impressive ability to read clues from victims' bones. Consequently, law enforcement calls her to assist with investigations when remains are so badly decomposed, burned or destroyed that standard identification methods are useless. Brennan is teamed with Special Agent Seeley Booth, a former Army sniper, who mistrusts science and scientists when it comes to solving crimes but who has developed respect for Brennan, both professionally and personally.

The investigation of the bones of a shooting victim leads to a counterfeiting ring.

When a body is found clutching a 300-year-old finger bone, Booth and Brennan's investigation leads them to a dive site where a pirate may have buried his treasure.

Brennan wakes up in the bathroom of her New Orleans motel room, bloodied and beaten with no memory of what happened.

While examining a young girl's cancer, Brennan and Booth uncover a bone-smuggling ring.