Soon after New York City prosecutor Alexandra Cooper arrives in France to visit her boyfriend Luc Rouget, a famed restaurateur, the body of a young woman is found with a matchbox from Luc's restaurant in her pocket, but Alex is summoned back to New York to preside over the high-profile case of Mohammed Gil-Darsin, the wealthy head of the World Economic Bureau who has been accused of rape by a housekeeper, and another body with a matchbox from Luc's restaurant is found in Brooklyn, too close to home for Alex.