Doan, a chubby, wisecracking private eye, and Carstairs, a Great Dane so huge he ought to be considered a new species, follow a trail of mayhem and confusion from Hollywood to the Mojave Desert town of Heliotrope, a place so thoroughly offensive that neither California nor Nevada will admit that it lies within its borders. It's 1943 and Doan is persuaded by government agents to sweet-talk the location of a valuable ore deposit out of an old desert rat with a mad-on for the government.