Young Joshua Bartlett is dead, but what looks like a junkie's drug overdose may actually turn out to be far more sinister. And now his teenage girlfriend, Emily Raines, is missing. Is she dead as well? While Joshua's grieving father starts digging for the truth about his son's death, Emily's father sets out to find his daughter. When his own efforts fail and the local police don't seem to be doing enough, he seeks the help of Grey Colson, a retired cop turned private investigator who has dedicated his life to educating the public about the dangers of drugs.

In direct opposition to Colson's efforts, billionaire Jack Strawn is heading up a nation-wide campaign to make recreational substances legal in all fifty states. His claim of altruistic motives, for the good of the public, seems shady to Colson. And now Keith Bartlett, Joshua's father suspects the worst: is it possible Strawn was involved somehow in Joshua's death? Who is the mysterious assassin targeting Colson and the district attorney, resulting in the D.A.'s tragic murder?

Colson sets out to discover the answers, warning Josh's father to stay out of a dangerous world he knows nothing about. Launching his own amateur undercover investigation, Keith Bartlett is confident he'll find out who and what Jack Strawn really is, and what he really stores in his furniture warehouses. But is Keith running the risk of ending up dead like his son and the D.A.?