In 1925, Dassas Cormier makes good on a promise and escorts his nephew Frank to New Orleans, but their vacation quickly turns into a search for a killer when Dassas learns a friend, an exotic dancer, has been murdered.

As he digs deeper into the dark side of the city, Dassas discovers secrets that involve politicians, bootleggers, federal agents, and underworld thugs—and confronts the shadows that haunt his own heart.