Dr. Al Carlisle's descent into the violent mind begins by chance, when he's asked to run a psychological evaluation on a man: Theodore Robert Bundy.
Dr. Carlisle's evaluation of Ted Bundy is over, but his work on the notorious serial killer has just begun.
Dr. Al Carlisle's study of the violent mind continues when the men convicted of Utah's horrific Hi-Fi Shop mass murders enters the Utah State Prison, awaiting a death sentence.
When a new inmate at the Utah State Prison claims he cannot remember the crime that sent him to prison, Dr. Carlisle's experiments with hypnosis reveal a violent alternate personality.
Dr. Carlisle's Mormon faith is tested when Arthur Gary Bishop asks for his help in understanding how he became a serial killer.
Dr. Carlisle discovers a surprising link between the traumas of war and the development of the violent mind when he interviews a Vietnam War veteran turned killer.