
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.
Extensive plastic surgery hides the identity of a body whose parts were found near an airport.
When a woman's burned body is found in a car with evidence that her child was kidnapped, Brennan and Booth's investigation leads to a suspect who is in the Witness Protection Program.
Brennan and Booth's investigation identifies a decomposed body found in a local alley as that of a friendless teen.
Booth and Brennan investigate when police find the dug-up corpse of a young woman in the trunk of a Salvadoran gang member's car.