Chaos erupts when the Governor of Virginia orders that speed traps be installed on all streets and highways, and warns that motorists will be caught by monitoring aircraft flying overhead. But the eccentric inhabitants of Tangier, an island approximately 14 kilometres off the coast of Virginia in Chesapeake Bay, respond by threatening to secede and set up an independent state, claiming that their independence lies in the history of America’s first settlers, those who set sail from England’s Isle of Dogs in 1607. Judy Hammer, newly installed as the superintendent of Virginia State Police and Andy Brazil, state trooper and Hammer’s right-hand confidante, are at their wit’s end as they try to protect the public from the politicians – and vice versa.