What would you do if you had half of a winning lottery ticket worth $87 million? All that money so tantalizingly close and yet it is meaningless without the other half of the ticket. That is what happened to Clarence Jordan, a poor, free lance laborer in the little town of Calhoun. Now, there has been a murder in this sleepy, little town and everyone thinks it was for that same ticket. The lead investigator is Sheriff Donald G. Dolliver, a hard drinking, cynical, 50 something, medically, retired detective. He must sort through a tangled web of deception and corruption seeking the murderer. There is a litany of personalities led by Essie Mae, the shrewish wife of Clarence Jordan; Reverend Bishop Brown, the Jordan's duplicitous minister; Katy, a middle aged widow and romantic foil for Dolliver; "Pink" Ambrosia Catterman, the voluptuous mulatto who seeks the attention of Dolliver; Laura Hughes Gregory, the heiress-administrator of a multibillion dollar foundation. Those along with many others contribute to the story.