White is set in the Nebraska sandhills, a vast area of dunes covered with grass and incised by a number of rivers fed entirely by springs. The subtle beauty of the sandhills defies exaggeration. The principal protagonist of the story is Charles Hays (usually known as Chick) Moore, who serves as County Attorney in Hooker County, Nebraska. All of the settings and place names in the novel are real. Chick drives a red XK8 Jaguar convertible which he readily acknowledges as a concession to his vanity. As he approaches a young woman hitchhiking along Nebraska highway 2 east of Mullen, Nebraska she turns, sees the car and is obviously terrified. She runs away from the highway and directly in front of a coal train, to her grisly death. Murders occur, which are rare in the sparsely populated sandhills. The investigation ultimately reveals a white slave trade originating in a remote part of the sandhills. The novel takes us to Tuscany, Saudi Arabia, and back to the 'hills.