A movie crew has come to New Iberia, Louisiana, to film a Civil War epic, and star Elrod Sykes just can't seem to keep his lavender Cadillac on the road. Under threat of a drunk-driving charge, he offers Detective Dave Robicheaux information in exchange for leniency: he leads him to the skeletal remains of a black man whose murder Robicheaux witnessed in the summer of 1957 as a college freshman. The still-unsolved crime haunts him as he grapples with a more pressing, contemporary horror, the serial rape and murder of young prostitutes. When the FBI arrives in the person of agent Rosie Gomez, Robicheaux must form a new partnership that challenges how he views himself and his local community.