Elmore Leonard's thirty-fourth novel mates crime and romance novels in a text that consistently resists and confounds readers' expectations. Leonard's goal is to disabuse romantic notions.

Bank robber and convict Jack Foley escapes from Florida's Glades Prison by using the same tunnel six Cuban-born convicts have dug beneath the fence.

Foley follows them, pretending he is a prison guard chasing after them. Outside the prison, Foley meets up with his longtime partner in crime Buddy Braggs who has brought the getaway car. Coincidentally, Karen Sisco, a deputy U.S. marshal, has arrived at the prison at the same time to serve a summons. Foley and Buddy take her hostage and force her to join Foley hiding in the trunk of her car. A curious chemistry begins between the cop and the robber in the dark confining space. Soon Karen manages to escape from the two men...