It was just an ordinary murder, a drug deal gone sour, leaving three dead teenagers and a drug dealer convicted of the crime. So, when Katherine Furay shows up at P.I. McDonald Clay's doorstep five years later to say her daughter had been a witness and that the murder wasn't ordinary at all, Mac suddenly finds himself in far over his head. The last thing Clay needed was a cause, and he wasn't looking for a reason to live. He just wanted to be left alone to grieve for his dead partner and girlfriend Patty Sheevers, brutally murdered the last time Clay had adopted a 'cause.' But Katherine Furay was Sheevers' best friend, and now she needs Clay's help, so he finds himself torn between responsibilities to the living and continuing a numbing, uninvolved self-indulgence. To his surprise, he discovers he does have some good qualities left. He starts out investigating Tommy Lovett, owner of a local pool hall in the north Florida city of Palmetto Bay, and winds up going head-to-head with a powerful gubernatorial candidate. In the process, he fights to regain his self-respect and to save the people he loves.