A wildly famous mystery novelist, Richard Castle, who is bored with his own success, learns that a real-world copycat killer has started staging murders from scenes depicted in his novels. Castle is questioned by NYPD Detective Kate Beckett, a bright and aggressive detective who keeps her investigations under a tight rein. Though they instantly clash, sparks of another sort also begin to fly, leading both to danger and a hint of romance as Castle steps in to help find the killer.