The Paradise Men's Softball League has wrapped up another game, and Chief of Police Jesse Stone is lingering in the parking lot with his teammates, drinking beer, swapping stories of double plays and beautiful women in the late-summer twilight. But then someone makes a horrifying discovery at a nearby lake: At the water's edge, facedown, is something that used to be a girl.

The local cops haven't seen anything like this, but Jesse's L.A. past has made him all too familiar with floaters. This girl didn't commit suicide and she didn't drown. She'd been shot and dumped, discarded like trash. Before long, it becomes clear that the young woman had a taste for the wild life. Her own parents can't be bothered to report her missing or even admit that she once was a child of theirs. All Jesse has to go on is a school ring on a gold chain—and a hunch or two.