Former FBI profiler Will Graham is pulled out of retirement to track down a brutal serial killer nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy." Known for his extraordinary ability to empathize with criminals, Graham is reluctantly brought back into the fray by his former boss, Jack Crawford. As Graham examines the crime scenes, he starts to feel the psychological toll of delving back into the minds of killers, which previously led him to a mental breakdown. To gain further insight into the mind of the killer, he consults with his old nemesis, Dr. Hannibal Lecktor, a brilliant but insane psychiatrist who is incarcerated for his own heinous crimes.

Graham's unique skill set allows him to piece together clues that eventually lead him to a man named Francis Dollarhyde, who is tormented by his own twisted desires. As he gets closer to identifying and capturing the killer, Graham must wrestle with his own past traumas and the psychological scars that resurfaced upon returning to fieldwork. The investigation intensifies, and Graham finds himself entangled in a perilous game of cat and mouse, with his own sanity hanging in the balance. As the net tightens around Dollarhyde, the stakes become unimaginably high, leading to an intense and gripping climax.