Set in 1948 Los Angeles, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins lost his job at a Los Angeles aviation defense plant, and is unable to pay the mortgage on his LA home. Easy is sitting in a bar when a man named DeWitt Albright walks into the bar and offers him a job finding a young woman named Daphne Monet. After following up a dubious lead from old friend Coretta, Easy leaves her early the next morning,only to be arrested by the LAPD. Shortly thereafter following police interrogation, he is told that Coretta is dead, and that he is a suspect in Coretta's murder.