When Sofia Desalvo enters the witness security program, she transforms her sleek, sophisticated image into nondescript English professor Elizabeth Stevens, hoping to quietly disappear in the safety of a small Southern town. Organized-crime boss Frank Sullivan - a respected doctor accused of racketeering and murder - has a contract out on Elizabeth, and her only hope is to survive long enough to testify against him in court. When two women close to Elizabeth are brutally murdered, small-town sheriff Wilson Drake steps in to solve the mystery and instead falls head over heels for the professor who, despite her best efforts, still emanates the charisma and charm of Sophia Desalvo. As the investigation deepens, so do Wilson's feelings for Elizabeth, and he soon realises that he must solve the violent murders quickly to prevent the woman he loves from becoming the next victim.