A black ex-boxer self-named Uhuru Nolica, the leader of a revolutionary cell called Scorched Earth, has kidnapped Rosemary Goldsmith, the daughter of a weapons manufacturer, from her dorm at UC Santa Barbara. If they don't receive the money, weapons and apology they demand, "Rose Gold" will die --- horribly and publicly. So the FBI, the State Department and the LAPD turn to Easy Rawlins, the one man who can cross the necessary borders to resolve this dangerous standoff.