
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 team must navigate the two very different worlds while investigating the death of an ex-con turned yoga instructor; Booth works to regain Brennan's trust; Angela and Hodgins make a major decision.

The team investigates a killing in which the crime scene points to a possible protégé of Pelant; Angela second-guesses the decision to move to Paris; Brennan and Booth consider employment options.

Booth and Brennan probe what appears to be a case of jealousy and insurance money when a man is found dead at a construction site, but new clues send them in a different direction.

Brennan and Booth investigate an explosion in a Miami hotel where a young woman had burned to death.