When Robicheaux discovers that his mother Mae was a hooker and ended her life drowned in a mud puddle by two cops working for the Mob he begins a painful journey; a journey which began when Mae boarded the Sunset Limited train to Hollywood and ended tragically one stormy night on the edge of the bayou on Purple Cane Road. Along the way Robicheaux hooks up with state governor Belmont Pugh, a preacher who has made it all the way from door to door salesman to the world of state politics; Johnny Remeta, a psychotic hit man with an IQ of 160 and an unnerving ability to walk through doors; and Jim Gable whose mansion is at Purple Cane Road and whose intimate knowledge of Dave's wife's past is yet another cross Robicheaux must bear as, slowly and inexorably, he tracks down his mother's killers and brings them to justice.