Police Chief Jesse Stone is trying not to think about things. Like how much he's drinking these days. Or how his ex-wife has gone to live in New York with another man.
Meanwhile there's trouble in the town of Paradise. The local school principal has been accused of mistreating her female charges and Jesse, never one to shirk a fight, has decided she needs to be taken down a notch. Worse, a tormented voyeur, the self-styled Night Hawk, has been spying on women through their windows. The disturbed individual's growing obsession suggests that it is only a matter of time before he goes beyond simply looking.