Ex-New Orleans cop Dave Robicheaux is turning his back on the Big Easy. With the support of his loving wife Annie, he's stopped drinking, and retreated to the beauty and serenity of the Louisiana bayou country. However Robicheaux's world is turned upside down when a planeload of illegal immigrants crashes into the nearby Gulf. He risks his life to save a little Salvadoran girl, whom he and Annie adopt. She is the child they never had, and the family quickly bonds. But the precarious balance of Robicheaux's life is suddenly threatened when he attempts to clear up the mystery surrounding the crash. Each query draws him further down a road of deceit, and ultimately leads him to the doorstep of old high school friend Bubba Rocque and his alluring Cajun wife Claudette. With only his longtime friend Robin to help him, Robicheaux's mettle is tested. In the face of personal tragedy, he seeks salvation in a bottle of booze while planning retribution against those who have shattered his life.