Al DeLucia is about to have the worst week of his life. After his girlfriend dumps him and a drug dealer sends him flying off a bridge, Al quits the New Haven Police Department with plans to start fresh in LA. But his new beginning is derailed when he learns that his estranged father, Big Al-whom he thought was dead-is not only alive but suffering from dementia and about to enter a nursing home. To top it off, Big Al has left him the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency in Savannah.

Reluctant and resentful, Al is determined to sell the agency and leave as quickly as possible. However, his plans go awry when he stumbles upon a dead body on the agency's dock. Faced with mounting complications, including an attractive but formidable detective named Max who turns out to be his superior, Al finds himself reluctantly entangled in the case.

As he juggles his father's repeated escapes from the nursing home and his own dwindling finances, Al is forced to confront unresolved issues from his past. When Big Al disappears, Al and Max must join forces to find him and solve the murder. Their journey takes them through the treacherous terrain of Savannah and the Okefenokee Swamp, uncovering old secrets and confronting dangerous truths that illuminate both the case and Al's complicated relationship with his father.