Determined to locate a woman he loves who inexplicably ran off, hired gunman Virgil Cole, along with deputy Everett Hitch, makes his way across New Mexico and Texas before finding her in a brothel, a situation complicated by a religious man and saloon violence.

When the body of a divorced Florida heiress washes ashore in Massachusetts, police chief Jesse Stone learns of the woman's past appearances in an erotic video and finds it suspicious that the victim's family seems unaffected by her death.

Struggling with a high-profile case involving the murders of a controversial talk-show host and a young woman, Paradise police chief Jesse Stone becomes increasingly frustrated by the lack of interest on the part of the victims' families.

Called back from retirement when a serial killer from a long-unsolved case reemerges, detective Phil Randall teams up with daughter and Boston private eye Sunny Randall throughout a series of murder investigations in which the victims resemble Sunny.