Back in the day, Linda "Pidge" Lewellen had a schoolgirl crush on Travis McGee. Now she's all grown up and has a husband who she swears is trying to kill her. Travis doesn't think husband Howie has the smarts or the gumption to maneuver something like that, and he placates her fears, sending the pair off sailing to make up. It may be the worst miscalculation of McGee's life, and one that could end Linda's.

"She's the opposite of a damsel in distress: a famous movie star, very beautiful, very much in control of her life. She's just made one little mistake and now she needs Travis McGee to set it right. The money is good and Travis's funds are in need of replenishing. But that's not the only reason he takes the case. There is the movie star's assistant--efficient and reserved, with a sadness underneath that makes McGee feel he'd brave any danger to help...

It only takes one word to get Travis McGee to leave the sunny deck of his houseboat in Ft. Lauderdale for the gray cold of Chicago. The word is help, and it’s uttered by Glory Geis, an old girlfriend of McGee’s and the pretty young widow of world-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Fortner Geis. The trouble is, the good doctor converted his considerable estate into cash before he died. But where he stashed it, no one knows.