Following his divorce and the loss of his job as a homicide detective with the LAPD, Jesse Stone travels across the country to Paradise, Massachusetts where he is recruited by the town's board of selectmen to become the new Chief of Police. But things are not quite so heavenly in Paradise, as Stone starts off his first day on the job investigating a domestic abuse case that leads to a money-laundering scheme possibly involving bank manager Hasty Hathaway-- one of the men responsible for hiring Stone.