Key West's sultry summer heat isn't for the faint of heart. But Michal Grabowski is running from a Pittsburgh cocaine dealer intent on killing him in a slow and painful manner, and Key West is the end of the road.

Retired Marine Jesse McDermitt enjoys the summer heat and quiet solitude of his tiny island home in the back country. When Jesse discovers that Michal's would-be killer is connected to recent murders in the Bahamas, he agrees to help the young man. Jesse doesn't like murderers, smelly crack monsters or drug dealers running amok in his territory. Particularly when one of them was responsible for the destruction of his charter boat.

Between a running gun battle with a group of cow hunters stretching from Key West Bight to the Everglades, a shotgun-toting Key West tarot card reader, a retired Jamaican mystic, and a rising body count, there's little time for Jesse to just relax and watch the sun go down.