Moody, scruffy Jack Cleary's an honest, but rebellious cop booted out of the LAPD on a bum rap (bribery). Unemployed, with his reputation in tatters, it doesn't help Jack feel any better to know his big brother Nick is a successful, big shot private eye, After his brother Nick is killed while working on a case, Jack takes over his brother's Private Detective business to find his killer, which leads Jack to a scandal in the record industry.

A Sunset Strip mobster offers Cleary a job which, if he refuses to accept, will mean the death of Cleary's war buddy---a roller-skating star in debt to the mob.