After a bitter divorce, Teresa embarks on a noir journey to recover custody of her daughter. Murder, blackmail, and a mysterious stranger await her at a Scottsdale motel.

Victoria "V.I" Warshawski is a Chicago based private detective who agrees to babysit for her new boyfriend; then he is murdered. Being the detective type, she makes the murder her next case. In doing so she befriends the victim's daughter, Kat, and together they set out to crack the case.