It hasn’t exactly been a banner year for Chicago-based private detective Ron Shade. First, his main ladylove left for a new life in California. Then his faithful old Chevy turned over its second hundred thousand miles and died. Finally, Shade realized that his expensive downtown office was a luxury that he could no longer afford. In an attempt to bounce back and take control of this life, Shade buys a new Camaro Z-28, gets a high-powered ad in the yellow pages, and in the process of bidding his office adieu when Maria Castro walks into his life.

Maria asks Shade to help find her friend Juanita’s missing fiancée, an illegal alien that the cops don’t seem too concerned about. When the fiancée turns up floating face down in a local shipping canal, Maria convinces him to stay on the case, despite his reservations. This is only the beginning of Shade’s quest into the heart of darkness, his search for something resembling the truth, and his hope to bring justice to the criminals he’s tracking.