Anita Blake is a vampire slayer and animator, raising the dead for a living. The holiday season is slow, and Anita is drawn into an investigation of missing lycanthropes or shapechangers, and a battle between two alpha males for control of the local werewolf pack.

Anita Blake is a busy woman. Working for Animators Inc, and dating a werewolf take up quite a bit of her time. Anita is at the early stages of her relationship with Richard, and though he is not quite human, she is still willing to see where things will lead. That changes when they meet up with Jean-Claude, the master vampire of St. Louis, who plants the seeds of doubt when he reveals a battle for control of the local pack between Richard and Marcus. Anita is angry that Richard had not been forthcoming with her, a fact the Jean-Claude was more than willing to exploit.

The pack summons Anita to help her locate eight missing lycanthropes in the area. Lycanthropes change form, from human to animal and human. Werewolves, wererats, werepanthers and were tigers, are examples of lycantrhopes. Though she is not an investigator, Anita agrees to help them, if only to be closer to the source of Richard's struggles. The investigation leads in several directions, one of which is tied to a murdered hunter found at a nature center. The man had been killed by a lycanthrope, a fact that Anita discovered after a dispute with the local police regarding jurisdiction. When a Hindu immortal figure is found skinned in an area river, witches become another possibility.

Throughout the novel, Anita's personal relationships constantly intrude, as she is unsure if she can love Richard enough, and the jealous master vampire Jean-Claude does his best to interfere with their future. Even with the distractions that constantly tug at Anita, she is focused on her job, that of finding the missing shapeshifters. A dark plot is revealed when Anita and Richard are baited into rescuing a new member of the pack. Kaspar Gunderson, a bitter, shapeshifting swan has decided to profit from his affliction. Cursed by a witch because of his prideful manner, Gunderson has been selling members of his pack to hunters, providing the excitement for which the law breakers yearn. With the help of the local county law, Gunderson has been providing lycanthropes as needed. His jealousy over the predators of his pack has made him more than willing to use them for his own good.

Anita and Richard, as well as Edward, a bounty hunter are captured by Kaspar and the sheriff, and things reach a climax when the trio is able to escape from their cages and the hunters are vanquished. Anita's relationship with Richard may be permanently damaged, not due to his being a werewolf, but because of Anita's sense of justice. By killing the deputy that had ultimately released her, Anita had demonstrated her unwillingness to yield in her beliefs, and Richard is unsure if that is a surmountable obstacle. The couple still dates, and Anita dates the master vampire as well, but one can not be sure if vanquishing evil is the right path, or even what evil truly is.