Leaving his office for a quiet evening, Philip Marlowe’s phone rings. A dame has phoned, and she needs a private eye right now to find her sister.

Shelley Martin is concerned over her sister’s involvement with a man named Horner. What does the cryptic message about the orange dog mean? It doesn’t take long for bodies to appear, which Marlowe hands off to the police as he keeps on the trail of the missing Marian, and the orange dog. Philip’s chase takes him to Chinatown. The snooping around gets Philip a pistol barrel in his back, but he learns that somebody has been feeding a string of lies.

Is Horner dead, or not? Is there really a sister named Marian? Can Philip trust anything that Shelley tells him? A plot of counterfeit is exposed. The pieces are all there, and suddenly Philip has the answers to the mystery. Danger is in store as he tries to bring the loose ends together.

Still confused over who’s guilty, and who’s not? Philip and the cops explain it all.