Barn manager Steve Cline has enrolled in a private investigation course and is working on the final project. But when his father, racehorse trainer Chris Kessler, invites him to Louisville on a two-week, all-expense-paid vacation, it isn't really a vacation. Kessler has a Derby runner and needs a reliable fill-in when one of his employees is injured.
With only two horses to care for, the workload is light, and Steve decides to get that class project out of the way-a simple records search. But the very act of initiating the project triggers a chance encounter that plunges Steve into the world of the ultra rich...a world where greed, revenge, and ambition drive some men to commit unspeakable acts amid the pageantry and glamour of thoroughbred racing.