Washington, D.C.-based police forensic psychologist Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) has impartially investigated numerous gruesome and difficult cases, but when he learns that his niece Naomi (Gina Ravera) has been kidnapped and may be in the clutches of a serial killer, matters become personal. To add his expertise, Alex heads to Durham, North Carolina and arrives about the time that a pair of local cops (Cary Elwes and Alex McArthur) discover two dead and sexually brutalized women tied to trees. The killer signed his work "Cassanova." Alex soon learns that eight women, all of them intelligent, strong-willed and beautiful have been similarly abducted. He gains further insight when Alex encounters Dr. Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd), a woman who was also abducted by the killer but managed to escape bondage. It is she who confirms Alex's growing suspicion that the kidnapper is more interested in collecting and subduing these women than killing them. Matters become more complicated when a copy-cat killer turns up. This intelligent thriller is very close in style and execution to Seven (1997).