Robert Laidlaw thought he was done with crime when he retired as a detective from the police department in Gallup, New Mexico. He envisioned a quiet life of hiking in the deserts and mountains of Southern Arizona, relaxing with a glass of wine at dinner time, and generally enjoying life. Life had other plans. Laidlaw gradually finds himself drawn into a web of murders and drug trafficking along the border with Mexico, through his friendship with a sheriff's detective. In the process, Laidlaw meets and falls in love with Alexis Beaulieu, a local writer of Western fiction. Together, they explore the violent history of Cochise County, Arizona, including the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone. Eventually, they become immersed in what seems to be a cultural trap.