In it, a forensics expert turned novelist is challenged by the perpetrator of the real-life crimes he used for inspiration, a serial killer who robs his victims of their bones while they are still alive.

[2] It was commissioned by HBO for broadcast as part of its "Friday World Premiere" collection in the U.S.[3] Rocky Carlson, the agent of novelist Bill Palmer, gets assaulted in his Chicago hotel room by an unknown figure.

The two head to a party celebrating the appointment of Bill's son Peter to his father's former position of chief medical examiner, but it is cut short when lower leg bones are found inside a gift box, accompanied by a message reading "Here's your agent.

The next day, Peter's children find a tibia on the hood of the family's car, and Palmer is further taunted by a phone call from the "Bone Daddy", who says he will next target Hewlitt.

[8] During the shoot, it was assessed that the film was likely to end up too short to satisfy the channel's contractual demands, so production begrudgingly added one day to the schedule.

Ballantine Books' Video Movie Guide called it a "grisly made-for-cable thriller" but deemed that "[t]he prerequisite shocks [...] are not nearly enough back story to make much of this or the characters matter.

[11] Sister publications TV Guide and Motion Picture Annual found that "[t]he convincingly grisly makeup effects do elicit a few shivers—certainly more than Mario Azzopardi's direction, which relies too much on [...] worn-out conventions".

[12] Robert Cettl, author of the book Serial Killer Cinema: An Analytical Filmography, noted the characters' complex relationships, writing that "all operate from a clouded motive" and added that "the film is competently stylized in the manner of Seven and Bone Collector".