Tennis star Louise Henderson has been dealing with emotional distress and returning memories about the murder of her mother. When her shrink, Dr. Trebaro turns up dead, a visiting Jessica becomes involved in the case. Meanwhile, Louise's father seems to be hiding secrets and making enemies, and soon he is killed too.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parent: Lane Henderson in an emotionally abusive sense, pushing his daughter hard, firing a coach she is close to etc.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When the killer, after being exposed, asks if there's anyone who isn't better off because of Lane Henderson's death, there's a lot of awkward glances at the ground.
- Asshole Victim: Both played straight (with abusive father and slimy businessman Lane Henderson) and averted (Dr. Trebaro is a kindly and competent figure).
- Blackmail: Lane blackmails John McCarver over some alleged financial chicanery to take Francesca's contract.
- Career-Ending Injury: Wendy, Louise's coach, was a tennis player herself once before breaking her leg.
- Cassandra Truth: John warning Bascombe about Francesca not really loving him is mostly ignored but is true.
- Coattail-Riding Relative: Mr. Henderson again, milking Louise's tennis career for all he can.
- Easily Forgiven:
- After Mr. Henderson ruins his love life and a good business deal, Bascombe looks mad, then picks up a phone and call him, offering a good business deal to make amends. He's lying and planning to kill Henderson, which comes across as The Un Twist.
- After shooting and badly wounding her father, Louise gets off with just a few months to a couple years of legal punishment given the circumstances.
- Fixing the Game: Lane fired his daughter’s coach and is pushing her hard, not because he wants he to succeed but to deliberately set her up to lose so that Francesca will win, which he could profit off of more.
- Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: McCarver isn't really a bad guy and repeatedly warns Bascombe about how Henderson and/or Francesca are putting the screws to him but he has to go along with it himself due to Henderson having financial records which indicate McCarver took kickbacks in the past.
- He Knows Too Much: Dr. Trebaro is murdered because he's helping Louise remember how her mom died.
- The Killer Becomes the Killed: Louise's father murdered his wife and Dr. Trebaro and is murdered himself by Bascombe.
- May–December Romance: Mr. Henderson's associate Andrew Bascombe (who looks to be a little older than him) is in a relationship with tennis player Francesca, who he's at least 20 years older than he is. He talks about marriage and children and she does seem to care about him but not enough to sacrifice a 2 million dollar contract Lane offers if she starts working for (and implicitly having sex with) him.
- Morality Pet: Bascombe and McCarver seem to have a decent and genuine friendship in spite of their respective flaws.
- The Shrink: Dr. Trebaro, Louise's therapist, an encouraging man interested in finding out the truth about her problems and helping her recover.
