Doctor Robert Branch is a university professor, not a secret agent. But his best friend is dead and Branch knows that it can't have been suicide. He is also certain that the murder has been arranged by a Nazi espionage group operating on campus. The only trouble is, no one will believe him. Branch knows that the Nazis will have him eliminated as soon as it is convenient. He's even narrowed his choice of executioner down to three: a psychotic homosexual, a respected educator-and the women he loves...

It's 1945. Ensign Sam Drake attends a party on his last night stationed in Hawaii and meets the woman of his dreams. But before the night is out, her best friend is dead in an upstairs room at the party. It appears to be suicide. The next day Sam starts his leave before receiving a new post. He returns to his home town of Detroit, and decides to check into a connection there between the dead woman and a radical group of black activists. Another death quickly follows and Sam finds himself on a cross-country adventure, haunted by dangerous characters everywhere he turns.