 Los Angeles narcotics detective John Kimble has long been after drug kingpin Cullen Crisp, who is a psychopath. After John arrests Cullen for a young man s murder, John is told that Cullen s ex-wife Rachel -- whose testimony could be a key to putting Cullen away -- is living in Astoria, Oregon, and that she has a son. John and his partner Phoebe O Hara are sent to Astoria to find Rachel. Phoebe, a former school teacher, is assigned to go undercover as a kindergarten teacher at Astoria Elementary School, where Rachel s son is believed to be one of the students. The problem for John and Phoebe is the fact that they don t know what Rachel and her son look like. When Phoebe becomes sick before the undercover assignment is to begin, John must take her place, despite the initial misgivings of Principal Schlowski, who eventually befriends John. On his first day, John meets first grade teacher Joyce Palmeri, whose son Dominic is one of John s students. As John spends months on this assignment, he bonds with his students and introduces them to his pet ferret. The town s single mothers find themselves falling for John. One of the students, Zach Sullivan, is a victim of physical abuse at the hands of his violent tempered father, who also physically abuses Zach s mother. John tries to convince Mrs. Sullivan to leave Mr. Sullivan and press charges, but Mrs. Sullivan is too scared to do that. One afternoon, as Zach is leaving school for the day, John finds a severe welt on Zach s back. John goes outside, hits Mr. Sullivan, and says that he has no choice but to press charges against Mr. Sullivan. Schlowski calls John into her office and asks John how good it felt to hit Mr. Sullivan, because Schlowski herself had always felt like hitting Mr. Sullivan. John soon discovers that Joyce s real name is Rachel Crisp -- Cullen s ex-wife. And now, Cullen and his cold-blooded mother Eleanor Crisp have arrived in Astoria, and they are looking for Rachel -- and Dominic, the son that Cullen hasn t seen in three years. And it s up to John to protect Rachel and Dominic.