Dave Robicheaux, once an officer for the New Orleans Police Department and before that a U.S. Army infantry lieutenant who fought in the Vietnam War,[1] works as sheriff's deputy in New Iberia, Louisiana.

When Trish Klein, a beautiful young woman, arrives to Louisiana, passing hundred-dollar bills in local casinos, Robicheaux knows there's going to be trouble.

Twenty-five years earlier, while drunk in Florida, Robicheaux witnessed her father, fellow Vietnam veteran Dallas Klein, executed by a group of cold-blooded robbers.

Trish tries to bait Whitey Bruxal, the aging mobster responsible for Dallas's death.

Meanwhile, Robicheaux investigates the apparent suicide of young co-ed Yvonne Darbonne.