[close] A weakness for the bottle has cost Lorraine Page her job as a lieutenant in the LAPD, her family--everything she once held dear. Down and out, Page finds the will to crawl out of the bottle, pull together the few remaining strands of her life, and open a modest detective agency in Los Angeles. After a slow start, she finally lands a high-profile case that she hopes will get her business off the ground. The daughter of a movie star has disappeared while on a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and the distraught parents offer Page a cool million if she can find the girl.

Page quickly discovers the case is about more than one missing girl, and her investigation leads her into the seamy underworld of New Orleans lowlife and rich, thrill-seeking Hollywood kids, a world where violence and deceit are as commonplace as beignets and café au lait. As the pressure to find the girl mounts, Page finds herself falling off the wagon, turning again to booze for solace in her hour of need. Out of control, she knows she should back off the case, but one million dollars is a powerful incentive to keep going; if she blows this case, she realizes, she will never get the professional respect she so desperately wants. [close]