1969, Bristol: Bajan ex-cop and reluctant private detective Joseph "JT" Tremaine Ellington is still trading in cash and favors, lending a helping hand to those who can't go to the police. He receives a telegram informing him that his sister has been murdered. To go home to Barbados, he must accept a ticket from his shady cousin, Vic, on the condition that he travels to New York first, where Vic lives. JT discovers that Vic is the U.S. end of a crime operation that stretches back to Barbados, and that Vic's business partner is responsible for the death of JT's wife and daughter. As JT finds himself embroiled in the world of drugs, bent law, voodoo, and the bitter legacy of slavery, he must return to the island of his birth and face the demons of his past.