San Francisco P.I. John Marshall Tanner is called in to help a crusading district attorney locate the only reliable witness to a mob-orchestrated hit-and-run killing. But is ex-model Teresa Blair hiding out, or is someone holding her hostage?

As Tanner investigates mob culture in the Bay Area and examines Teresa's privileged life, he discovers that mobster Tony Fluto isn't the only person to want her dead.

The closer Tanner gets to the truth, the more he realises that everyone from Teresa's business partner to her best friend to her husband has something to hide - including Teresa herself.