Lieutenant Steve Simmons returned home from the Vietnam war to find his wife Jennifer in bed with another man. In an enraged scuffle, Jennifer falls down the stairs to her death. After psychiatric treatment in a VA hospital, Steve relocates in a new state with a new career and tries to put his life back together. Then he meets his wife's sister, Christina, whose existence was unknown to him. There is a plot to kill Christina, heir to an international manufacturing corporation. Steve hires a detective, the flamboyant Jack McKenzie, and together they set out to find the conspirators.

The story begins with gritty combat scenes in the jungles of Vietnam. The battles continue back home as Steve's post-war traumas are intensified by one bizarre twist after another. The fast pace continues to the dramatic conclusion where Steve may at last taste victory.