Detective Remy McSwain is a brash, womanizing, and unconventional New Orleans police detective who doesn't always play by the rules in order to get criminals locked up. But with the help of his uncle C.D. LeBlanc, the police chief and a fanatic Civil War buff, and Remy's man-hungry detective partner, Darlene Broussard, he always manages to stay one step ahead of the law. But everything changes with the arrival of Anne Osborne, a district attorney from Washington DC whom is sent to oversee a case of illegal fishing in the remote bayous where Remy is investigating a murder which may lead to a high-up power in the city council. Anne finds herself captivated by the intense good/bad cop who tries to gain her affections with the help of his street informant and blues musician Smiley Dupree, while the local district attorney, Lightnin' Hawkins, persuades Anne to get close to Remy in order to nail him on a corruption probe the city is putting on.

As Anne settles in New Orleans (aka: The Big Easy) to stay, Remy continues to try to win her affections with the help of Smiley and his other associates, while both Anne and Remy have fantasies about the other, while Lightin' Hawkins also tries to get Anne to notice him as well. Meanwhile, a fortune-telling friend of Remy's, named Zelda Riley, tells him about a premonition about a street informant being murdered. Remy investigates and soon locks horns again with Anne who suspects Zelda somehow being involved, while Remy thinks otherwise and sets out to prove it.

Remy investigates the murder of a groom at his bachelor party where the only evidence is that of a high-heeled shoe left behind by the killer who may have been a transvestite. In attempting to dig into the past of the murder victim, Anne also learns some hidden facts about the groom's real interests as well as the bride-to-be's urges. Elsewhere, C.D. tries to find time to help Remy with his investigation while planning to hold another Civil War re-enactment outside of town.

Remy and Anne investigate the mysterious death of a jazz musician friend of Smiley's where circumstantial evidence points to supernatural occurrences connected to a shady music producer, named Tyrell, whom Remy begins to suspect that he may in fact be the Devil incarnate. But the skeptic Anne tries to put together a rational explanation for the unexplained events happening around them when a blind blues singer confirms that the musician's death was Satan's work.

Remy investigates the death of the father of a young debutante in a suspicious plane crash in the swamps and learns a series of facts about the unscrupulous businessman, including the fact that C.D. was romantically involved with the widow of the victim. Meanwhile, Anne, with Darlene's help, strikes out on her own investigation into the mysterious death by trying to establish a motive by either the debutante daughter Alana, or the estranged artist son Kent .