Lew Griffin, now fifty-years-old, has retired as a private investigator, choosing instead to teach French literature at the university. Soon, his old life draws him back. One of the very few lights from Lew Griffin's dark and violent past has flickered out. His one-time lover, La Verne Adams, is dead--and her daughter, Alouette, has vanished into a seamy, dead-end world of users and abusers, leaving behind a crack-addicted infant. Having abandoning his former career as a private investigator for the safety of teaching, Lew Griffin now spends his time in an old house in the garden district, determined to keep his distance from the dangers of the New Orleans night. But an inescapable obligation to an old friend is drawing him back like a moth to a flame.