One moonlit night in Santa Monica, California, California, former Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) looks out at the ocean, waiting to sober up before driving across the country with his dog Boomer to the small coastal town of Paradise, Massachusetts, where he has been offered the position of police chief. Forced to resign from the LAPD for drinking on duty, Jesse knows that the Paradise job is his last chance. From a motel in Missouri, he calls his ex-wife, actress Jenn Stone, with whom he still talks regularly despite their divorce. Jesse's drinking problem became serious after he discovered that she was having an affair with her producer.