When a small town in rural Virginia gathers for its annual Independence Day parade, the celebrations are abruptly halted at the discovery of the first homicide the town has seen in a decade. The local police lieutenant believes he has a handle on the investigation until a second body turns up in the river. And when Special Agent Kate Reid, the FBI's star profiler, is called to assist, the lieutenant reluctantly accepts the offer. However, it isn't long before the two butt heads on how best to proceed. Given the unique signature of the murders that resembles a form of torture, Kate knows the lieutenant is in over his head.

In a matter of days, another body is found on the highway. Same signature. Kate realizes time is running out because a photo is discovered in a victim's bedroom that reveals the three who have been murdered are in the picture together. Three more in the photo are still alive.

The case has brought interest from the rest of the team at BAU Quantico, and the head of the unit authorizes more assistance. Kate welcomes help from Agents Jonathan Surrey and Levi Walsh. But what they hadn't counted on was the discovery that the murders appeared to mimic those that occurred in the town nearly 200 years earlier.

Kate and the team wage a desperate search to learn who knew about those murders because with only three in the photograph left alive, whoever it is seems determined to kill every last one.