Statistician Maggie Ryan returns to her alma mater to consult for Professor Charlie Fielding, who is conducting experiments on how skilled readers read. She is invited to a celebratory luncheon with retired professor Tal Chandler. But Chandler is found dead before he gets to the restaurant. The police say suicide, but Maggie offers a different reading of the crime scene, casting suspicion on Fielding, others in the psychology department and the dead man's grieving widow.