Jockey Nikki Latrelle gets the chance of a lifetime—to ride the favorite in a stakes race—only to have her dream destroyed when a mysterious intruder kills her mount the night before the race. Evil is at work at Maryland’s Laurel Park race track, and when Nikki stumbles over the body of a gunshot victim, she quickly becomes the prime suspect in a murder case. Framed and facing a possible murder rap, Nikki is ruled off the track.

Even deprived of job and income, she cannot abandon a mistreated, ill-tempered racehorse doomed to the slaughter house. Nikki and the filly wind up at a seedy stable with a motley group of felons, drunks, and drug addicts. With unexpected help from a fashion-conscious wholesale meat seller, a recovering addict, and an ancient groom, Nicky follows a crooked trail of insurance scam and betting fraud. But with the odds against her, can she clear her name and put the real criminals behind bars?