When your life is at an all-time low, how can it get any worse? Emerson Ward finds out one steamy August morning when the phone starts ringing too early to be anything but bad news. Before the day is over he learns that a good friend is missing, another is hospitalized after a brutal beating, his phone is tapped, and the woman he loves is leaving him. In an attempt to lend a hand to all who need it, one thing leads to another, and before Emerson knows it, he's up to his neck in dirty dealings and danger to match.