Jesse O'Hara is unemployed. "A million dollar brain and a ten-cent personality," her last employer said. With nothing better to do, Jesse accepts a request to go to Ireland to help a relative find his missing daughter. She expects to find the young woman quickly, and is looking forward to spending her trip touring and drinking, not necessarily in that order.

Once in Ireland, it's clear to Jesse that the missing woman has met with foul play. In the course of her investigation she goes to greater and greater lengths to get to the truth, causing her to antagonize Ireland's most dangerous drug kingpin, not to mention the IRA and the local gardai.

Aided by her near-photographic memory and dogged perseverance, Jesse is close to uncovering the truth, even as other people start to turn up dead. But she's warned away from the investigation, and when she doesn't back off, she's threatened, attacked, and kidnapped. And when she is accused of murder, Jesse must use every ounce of wit and brainpower she has (left) to find a killer and not end up six feet under.