Thorny Wallace is a little prickly about the women of Bishop and her being stuck with every job running the city. As the chief of police, she is asked to look into the cause of death of a sheriff's deputy and two prisoners--at the county jail.

As everything is almost settling down, the FBI shows up on her doorstep. The agent has a single uncut diamond... and suspect the other fifteen pounds will be smuggled through Thorny's town... unless she can figure out how, who, and stop them.

Complicating everything is a four hundred mile motorcycle race to be held on the Fourth of July.

A body, with a slit throat, at the port of Los Angeles, sets off the fireworks.