Small town seventeen-year-old Vivienne Taylor is a talented equestrian rider with a little something extra going on. She is also an "equine empath" - someone who has the ability to read horses' minds and moods. This comes in handy while assisting her veterinarian mother and in her training to become an Olympic equestrian. When she receives a full scholarship to attend Fairmont Riding Academy, a prep school with a famous riding program, she experiences homesickness, hazing by the school's snooty queen bee, intense competition, the not-altogether-unwelcome interest of a hot boy, and a horse who she cannot "read" or understand. Vivienne comes to know that the horse belonged to the school's vet, who was recently murdered. She feels the horse's PTD stems from witnessing this murder, and resolves, at considerable peril, to track down the killer.