Jean Pearson, a 29-year-old veterinarian from Youngstown, Ohio, arrives in Fort Lauderdale to arrange for the funeral of her father and uncle. It appears that they died in a typical gasoline engine boating explosion until Jean learns that the blast was caused by bomb. She hardly has time to react to this news when she is pursued in a high-speed car chase, and barely escapes being kidnapped. Frightened and alone, Jean meets a girlhood friend, a wealthy Anglo-Mexican socialite who invites Jean to stay aboard her yacht. Together they set out to investigate the murders, and they soon uncover a web of treachery that leads to government corruption, tangled conspiracies, cocaine smuggling, and a billion-dollar land fraud scheme. Targeted for assassination, they find themselves being hunted by both the villains and the police as they careen through Florida in a desperate gamble to find the only evidence that will ensure their survival. They make their way to a battered women's shelter, Jean kills a corrupt police officer, their world turns upside down, and they roar off on a motorcycle stolen from a gang member as they ricochet toward their first adventure's startling conclusion.