When a beautiful teenage girl is killed, the victim of a particularly savage rape, New Iberia, Louisiana, police detective Dave Robicheaux senses from the very start that the most likely suspect, Tee Bobby Hulin, is not the actual killer. Though a drug addict and general ne'er-do-well, Hulin just doesn't fit the profile for this kind of brutal crime. When another murder occurs, this victim a drugged-out prostitute who happens to be the daughter of one of the local mafia big-wigs, all clues once again point to Tee Bobby Hulin, and the cries for an arrest become too loud to ignore. The dead girl's father, however, prefers to take matters in his own hands and sets out to find - and punish - the killer himself.