"Early Pines is a man at loose ends. On temporary leave from his job as a detective with the Paradise Police Department, he's a man with too much time on his hands. And, at just over three years sober, empty time isn't easy time. When his old friend, cowboy ex-priest, Jake Morales, invites him to tag along to a Tucson rodeo, he jumps at the distraction. Maybe the interstate would have been a better idea. A blown pickup tire, a flat spare, a hundred and six degrees - not good. No choice but to thumb a ride to the nearest town. If you can call it a town. One Horse, Arizona, is exactly what it sounds. A gas station-garage that hasn't seen paint since the fifties, a few scattered adobes, centered by a sun bleached and sagging tavern called Bob's Place. The woman behind the bar is definitely not Bob. Tall, dark, and desert beautiful, Cleo Lane inherited the place from her deceased father. She loves One Horse, but she's up to her ears in problems. The bar barely makes ends meet, and on top of it, she has a sister, Cali, out on the coast that seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. Early's got the time - a road trip would do him good. And, besides, the lady is definitely not a Bob. A long drive with a lady like Cleo? Just what the doctor ordered"--