Los Angeles, 1931. On the heels of an unsavory investigation involving a famous comedian, Perry Mason—a PI struggling to make ends meet—and his right-hand man Pete Strickland are hired by attorney E.B. Jonathan, Perry's mentor, to solve a perplexing case: the brutal kidnapping of one-year-old Charlie Dodson, whose parents Matthew and Emily were targeted for a $100,000 ransom. After meeting with Herman Baggerly, a millionaire elder at the Dodsons' church, Perry, E.B., and E.B.'s legal secretary Della Street ponder why a family of unmistakably modest means would be extorted for such a steep price.

In order to gain an advantage over E.B. and team, wily district attorney Maynard Barnes goes public with a shocking new development. Mason and Strickland get unauthorized access to physical evidence with help from Virgil, Mason's connect at the city morgue. Later, Mason attempts to extract information from a withholding Drake, who's weary of Holcomb and Ennis' watchful eyes. Della notices a change in E.B., who seems uncharacteristically out of sorts.