
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 into the death of a maid whose remains were found on the side of the road turns out to be a bigger case than originally thought; tensions rise between Cam and Brennan.
The team investigates a billion dollar hedge fund company after severely damaged human remains are found under a merry-go-round.
At the scene of a plane crash involving Chinese diplomats, Brennan finds three small bone fragments that did not come from the plane and might have something to do with a local man who went missing five years earlier.
Brennan tries online dating but ends up the target of a shooting when she tries to meet her date at a local restaurant.