Dinner with gorgeous aeronautical engineer Claire de Mer holds the promise of heavenly bliss for Wiley Moss — until two manic mobsters toss him on a cross-country bus and shuffle him off to Idaho. Hey, no big deal. All Vinnie "Spuds" DeMarco wants from Wiley, who earns his living making illustrations of insects for the Smithsonian Institution, is "semi-decent pitchas — no smut — "of his eighteen resident cuties, naturally named the Spudettes. Nice work if you can get it, only Wiley can't seem to find the time for romance and art. Someone's knocking off the hoods at the Mount Vincent High Country Lodge and Whitewater Resort — someone with an attitude who wants everybody dead.

Now for Wiley, getting out of Idaho alive very quickly becomes his number one priority. A raging forest fire is just the beginning of a frantic chase across Idaho, with shoot-out stop-offs at Bob's Marmot City & Rattlesnake Farm and a topless domino parlor, all culminating in a hair-raising climax on the banks of the Snake.