Down-and-out drunk Terry Lennox has a problem: his millionaire wife is dead. So he turns to his only friend in the world, Philip Marlowe, Private Investigator. Marlowe's willing to help a man down on his luck, but Lennox commits suicide in Mexico and things start to turn nasty. Marlowe finds himself drawn into a sordid crowd of adulterers and alcoholics in LA's Idle Valley, where the rich are suffering one big suntanned hangover. Marlowe is sure Lennox didn't kill his wife, but how many more stiffs will turn up before he gets the truth?