Jesse Stone: Night Passage

Tom Selleck returns to the role of small-town police chief Jesse Stone in this prequel to the CBS TV movie Stone Cold. Having been booted from the LAPD for drunkenness (brought on by his divorce), Stone heads to tiny Paradise, Massachussetts, where through the auspices of local banker Hastings Hathaway (Saul Rubinek) he is appointed chief of police. His first assignment is to investigate the murder of his predecessor Lou Carson (Mike Starr), whose death may or may not be tied in with a local domestic-abuse case involving minor mob functionary Jo Jo Genest (Stephen Baldwin). Although his new staff has a lot of trouble dealing with Stone's eccentricities--not least of which is insisting upon taking his pet dog Boomer wherever he goes--Jesse gradually wins them over. Along the way, he also tries to melt the heart of his staunchest adversary, attractive attorney Abby Taylor (Polly Shannon--all the while fending off the advances of banker Hathaway's libidinous wife Cissy (Stephanie March). Based on a novel by Robert B. Parker, Jesse Stone: Night Passage was originally telecast on January 15, 2006.