The novel begins with Chief Stone investigating the murder of a man Suit finds crammed into the trunk of an abandoned car.

The man turns out to be Petrov Ognowski, a tough guy for local mob boss Reggie Galen.

Despite his increased drinking, he continues to investigate and discovers that Galen’s neighbor is another mob boss named Knocko Moynihan and is married to Rebecca’s twin sister, Roberta Bangston.

There they discover that their mother is a widow, and that their father was involved in criminal activities with the girl’s husbands, who had met in prison twenty years earlier.

Jesse confronts the bodyguard with this information in his office along with Ognowski’s large mobster father, and presents him with two options.

The cult involves free love and sex, but with the girl being over eighteen, Sunny finds her hands tied, and reports this to the parents.

In an attempt to find the girl she approaches the lawyer telling him that she heard he can arrange kidnappings of troubled teens so they can be medically treated.

The girl decides to return to the commune, but a short time later she reports that she was forced to have sex with strange men.

At these fundraisers, older men would attend, donate money, and in turn be given sex with the young female members of the cult.

During his therapy sessions with Dix, Jesse discovers that it was his impression of Galen’s control over his already submissive wife that made him so envious of their relationship.

Meanwhile, Sunny, with the help of her therapist, Dr. Silverman (the longtime love interest of another Parker character, Spenser), discovers that it was her fear of being controlled by her husband that she saw as so perfect, that drove her from him.