Jack Reacher, a former military policeman, travels across America after being fired, enjoying freedom. But the savings run out, and he stops in the resort town to replenish them, during the day digging pools, in the evening working as a bouncer in a bar . One day, this measured life is violated by a private detective - as it turns out, Jack is wanted by a certain lady from New York. Her name does not tell Reacher anything, and he would not have given this meeting any meaning if he had not soon discovered in a dark alley the body of this very detective with his finger pads cut off. Who hired this man and who ordered it? Who is on the hunt? Reacher feels that he is involved in this case against his will, and goes to New York to find the man who needed him. But his journey is much longer it will be a journey into the bloody past.