On the road to Zen enlightenment, homicide detective Will Mansion takes a seductive detour down the path to perdition. When a bust goes terribly wrong, Paradise City detective Will Mansion nearly dies while saving his partner. On leave, Will seeks relief from post-traumatic stress disorder through Zen meditation and abstinence. He responds to the plea of the cryptic Sister Clyde to find a man missing from her soup kitchen, a man who may provide a lead to the vicious drug dealer who nearly killed Will. The search seduces Will away from the healing he seeks and he finds himself on the smarmy Miracle Mile. Alcohol, sex, and the potent drug "Nearvana" numb Will's pain better than his infant Zen practice. He slips further and further into an underworld of the lost and hopeless only to find himself facing death-again.