Los Angeles, 1948: Ezekiel "Easy Rawlins" is a black war veteran just fired from his job. Now he's drinking in a friend's bar, wondering how he'll meet his mortgage.

That's when De Witt Albright , a quietly vicious white man in a white linen suit, walks in and offers Easy good money if he'll just do a little job for him: find Miss Daphne Monet, a blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs.

It seems simple enough, but Easy soon discovers that Albright isn't the only one looking for the lovely Miss Monet - isn't the only one who's ready to kill anyone, including Easy, who might get in the way.