Though he may well be an undertaker, Elijah Stern is a man of culture. When he learns that his supply of literature has dried up he decides to ride out from his small town to Kansas City, where he knows there is a small bookstore, in order to satisfy his reading addiction. A simple task, right? Wrong. No sooner does he arrive when he is mugged. In his efforts to track down his attackers, Stern will cross paths with old friends, new enemies, and, even worse, his ex-wife...