Years after returning from the Vietnam War, Johnny Malone becomes the mastermind of a lucrative 1980's Southwest Florida drug smuggling empire. In 1992 Bo Dawber kills Johnny's best friend, Sanchez, after he finds out that Johnny has been cooking the books for years. Johnny snaps and decides to take out Bo Dawber by shutting down the smuggling operation. Johnny sets up Bo Dawber by convincing the FBI that Bo was the mastermind and that he was just an innocent accountant forced to work for Bo. Johnny regrets the unexpected collateral damage that gets most of the males in Dawber County including his best friends, thrown in prison. Johnny decides to hide millions of dollars in airtight bags in the Dawber County swamps. Johnny then disappears, leaving all the children in Dawber to grow up without their parents. In the aftermath of the federal raid, Dawber became a ghost town. Malone's missing millions have become a gangland legend in the decade after the federal authorities shut the drug running operation down, with criminals the world over seeking it. In 2003, teenagers Alex Gregory, Bones Malone (Johnny's son) and Billy Dawber (nephew of Bocephus Dawber) are tired of being poor and decide to find Johnny and his missing millions before anyone else can. In the course of this gripping caper, the resourceful teenage friends will sojourn from the alligator-infested swamps of Dawber to the high rises of Miami and back. The young friends meet strange and terrifying people-all while defying the odds. They race against gun-toting rednecks, bloodthirsty Haitians, twisted ex-convicts, and corrupt law enforcement officers as they all struggle to lay claim to Johnny Malone's missing $5 million. Alex also masterminds a plan to convince Johnny Malone to help the teenagers start a new smuggling empire in Dawber County.