A moonlighting director finds his sideline more dangerous than he expected.

Alan Bernhardt is just starting rehearsal when his pager goes off. No one in the small San Francisco theater minds — they know that to make it on the stage, you have to be prepared to do all sorts of odd jobs off of it. But this director's job is odder than most. He works for Herbert Dancer, head of a boutique private investigation service. A corporate secretary has vanished with a sheaf of valuable documents, and it will take an off-Broadway sensibility to bring her home.

Bernhardt is just closing in on the woman and her boyfriend when he learns that she isn't running for a profit, but for her life. To save her from the men who hired him, Bernhardt must find her and protect her — because his artistic vision does not include blood on his hands.