Set in the very near future, Honey Don't features a hit list that runs the gamut: from a goatish President dying in flagrante, to an aging Don appalled by modern manners from a certifiably stupid mafia bagman fleeing both the Secret Service and the mob with $656,000 of dirty money in a locked attach case and the President's head in a carry-all, to a coke-snorting, blow-dried VP who has suddenly caught the brass ring. Circling them are conniving White House staffers, corrupt politicos, sleazy journalists, and rancid pro-football coaches-all adding up to a DC three-ring circus.

And in the center ring is the eponymous Honey, one of those Texas women cursed with a given name that condemns her to a lifetime of cheerleadering. But this daddy's little girl is a free spirit in full rebellion, and her take on life-offbeat but on target-is the heart and soul of this antic tale. And, as always with Sandlin, it's the women who have the last laugh.