Joe Winder, a former investigative reporter, now works in the public relations department for the Amazing Kingdom of Thrills, a theme park located on North Key Largo, Florida.

Joe's dulled investigative instincts are roused by the theft of two endangered "Blue Tongued Mango Voles" from the park's rare animal pavilion.

His boss, Charles Chelsea, discourages him from looking into the theft, but Joe secretly questions Dr. Will Koocher, the young biologist hired to supervise the captive breeding of the voles.

Frankie King, a convicted racketeer who relocated to Florida under the Witness Protection Program after testifying against several mid-level members of John Gotti's crime family.

Bud and Danny are elated, but return to Molly's condominium to find her savagely beaten–Frankie sent Pedro to give her "a warning" after her group picketed the opening ceremony of Falcon Trace.

Joe's girlfriend Nina leaves him after he loses his job, but he finds allies in Carrie Lanier, an actress who plays one of the Kingdom's animal characters, and "Skink", a hermit who lives wild in the Key Largo woods.

After the two men watch Carrie's first and last performance as the star of the Kingdom's Jubilee parade, Skink trips the park's fire alarm and causes the tourists and employees to flee.

In the epilogue, Falcon Trace is acquired by outside investors with plans to continue the development, but the project is halted when the Mothers of Wilderness report a sighting of two more of the presumed-extinct voles in the nearby woods.