When Jessica arrives in Gila Junction to visit her friend Norma, she happens across the local sheriff/mechanic when he receives a call regarding Norma's car being found in the desert as a result of an apparent accident. After they discover her with a sprained ankle, Jessica soon is told by Norma that she suspects that someone targeted her because of an investigation she was conducting at an old, abandoned military base near town. When several residents end up murdered, Jessica reluctantly agrees to help investigate what's really going on and soon discovers it has to do with a string of highway robberies.

Jessica immerses herself in the medical profession when a young nurse is accused of murdering two patients to whom she was providing home care.