An ex-surfing champion and friend of Magnum's turns up dead on the beach and Magnum investigates. The prime suspects are a local drug pusher and a Vietnam vet, but Magnum believes someone else may be involved.

The Japanese wife of an old Navy buddy comes to Magnum for help when her husband is kidnapped and held for ransom. She asks Magnum to handle the ransom drop without telling her father, who never approved of the marriage in the first place. However, the deeper Magnum gets into the case, the more suspicious he becomes of the circumstances.