Ex-military cop turned hobo Jack Reacher hitches a ride with Alan King, Don McQueen and Karen Delfuenso. He soon realizes that King and McQueen have just committed murder and carjacked Delfuenso. Meanwhile, Julia Sorenson of the Omaha FBI field office is investigating the murder. Back in the car, Reacher tries to help Delfuenso, but King and McQueen abandon him at a motel in Iowa. From there, Reacher calls the FBI, and ends up speaking personally with Sorenson. She meets up with him and he convinces her to let him help with the case. But on their way out of Iowa, Sorenson and Reacher come across Delfuenso’s car on fire, with her burned out body in the backseat.