L.A. Private Eye Kip Yardley is called to Arizona to find the killers of a highway construction worker. The day after he arrives he is forced off the interstate and left to die in a burning jeep. Shortly thereafter he is left to die in the desert after being forced off his horse at gunpoint. Things really start getting hot, however, when he is asked to find beautiful Valerie Chiccarro, daughter of the wealthy road contractor. Flagstaff cops keep warning him to back off and leave the investigating to them but Kip is not one to give up easy. He keeps digging up bones and clues, trying to solve the killing and the disappearance. A piece of topography map, a business card and an old Indian peace pipe are the clues that Kip must unscramble to find out who the killers are and how to prove it. In the end he faces being shot and buried in the Arizona desert. The bad guys don't know Kip very well. When it comes to dying, he's got some tricks up his sleeve.