Reporter Maxey Burnell is co-owner - along with her attractive, infuriatingly irresponsible ex-husband, Reece - of an alternative weekly newspaper in Boulder, Colorado. Driving home late one night Maxey is nearly sideswiped by a runaway van - victim of a teenager's prank, according to the police. But soon after, her landlady, Mrs. Waterford, is killed in a similar accident, and distraught Timothy Waterford asks Maxey to look into his grandmother's death. As Maxey investigates, murder and mayhem get a little too close for comfort. The van incident was only the beginning, and before she's through, the complaints will include arson and attempted murder.