Getting by as an old-school private investigator in spite of Manhattan's increasingly sophisticated culture, Leonid McGill finds his commitment to living a straight-and-narrow life repeatedly tested when he attempts to obtain information for a high-paying client.

Trying to locate a family friend who has become involved with a radical resistance group, Easy Rawlins stumbles onto a murder scene only to be named a suspect, and he finds himself exploring a world of betrayal, trying to stay alive.

Sharing a close bond in spite of very different backgrounds, Eric, a handsome white man of privilege, and Tommy, an impoverished black youth with poor health, are separated by tragedy and reunited by a common enemy years later.