Some say that outlaws no longer exist, that the true spirit of the American West died with the legendary bandits of pulp novels and bedtime stories. Charlie Hood knows that nothing could be further from the truth. These days he patrols vast stretches of the new American West, not on horseback but in his cruiser. The outlaws may not carry six-shooters, but they're strapped all the same.

Along the desolate and dusty roads of this new frontier, Hood prefers to ride alone, and he prefers to ride at night. At night, his headlights illuminate only the patch of pavement ahead of him: all the better to hide from the demons -and the dead outlaws - receding in his rearview mirror.

But he doesn't always get what he wants - certainly not when he's assigned a partner named Terry Laws, a county veteran who everyone calls "Mr. Wonderful". And not when Laws is shot dead in the passenger seat and Hood is left to bear witness to someone who knew that Mr. Wonderful didn't always live up to his nickname.

As he sets out to find the gunman, Hood knows one thing for sure: The West is a state of mind, one where the bad guys sometimes wear white hats - and the good guys seek justice in whatever shade of gray they can find it.