Modern-day Texas Ranger, Cordell Walker's independent crime-solving methods have their roots in the rugged traditions of the Old West. Walker's closest friend is former Ranger, C.D. Parker, who retired after a knee injury, and now owns "C.D.'s," a Country/Western saloon/restaurant. Rookie Ranger, James "Jimmy" Trivette is an ex-football player who bases his crime-solving methods on reason and uses computers and cellular phones. Alex Cahill is the Assistant DA who shares a mutual attraction with Walker, but often disagrees with his unorthodox approach to law enforcement.

A former cop who is now a novelist notices an attractive young woman move in next door to him. He strikes up a conversation, one thing leads to another and he spends the night. She asks him to come back the next evening, but when he does he discovers that she has been killed. When he reports the murder, he is told that no such woman ever lived there, and when he gets back to the house there's a completely different woman staying there--who he's never seen before--who claims that she's lived there for years and no other woman has ever lived there