Stages is a story about six people who are struck by lightning. One of the six people becomes a murderer. The other five people can see him committing these murders. The twist is that each person can only see one phase of the murders. They see the murders in five different stages. The main character, Detective Vaughan, sees the murders being planned. As time goes on, he sees a little bit more of the murders as they are being planned. The FBI is called in when the DC police find out that the murders are really happening up and down the east cost. The murders stretch from Virginia to as far as Florida. Detective Vaughan is asked to work with the FBI because of his ability to see the murders being planned. Lisa Berkley, DC Metro's psychologist, gets some information from two other officers who will make it possible to bring the other four people together with Detective Vaughan. Lisa is also Vaughan's girlfriend. FBI agent Anthony Lomax, the FBI's top criminologist, will assist on the national level in the fact finding phase.

And the final twist is that there is a copy cat killer.