Pilikia means "trouble" in the Hawaiian language and pilikia is exactly what private investigator, Val Lyon, finds on the mean streets of Honolulu. What starts off as a simple assignment to find a young boy who is the object of a custody battle turns into a fight for survival as death threats come in and bodies drop. Val's task pits her against a prominent feminist activist, a politically-connected clergyman, and a powerful local family. The case takes Val from the canyons of downtown Honolulu to the leper colony of Molokai and back with a killer dogging her footsteps the entire way.