
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.

A man and his son discover a frozen body in a pond; Booth gets advice from one of his hockey idols.

Brennan and the team get a phone call from the Grave Digger, who informs them that Booth has been buried alive with only 24 hours of oxygen.

The team investigates at a fantasy convention when a female science-fiction enthusiast is found murdered.

While bungee-jumping, a couple discover a corpse at the bottom of a gorge; the lab goes into lockdown when an unknown substance begins oozing from the cadaver.