The body of Noel Chapman, the manager of the Blue Parrot Apartments, is found floating face down in the king tide flood waters that have flooded the basement laundry. The police call the death an accidental drowning. The next day, Charles Sturgis, whose family owns the apartments, hires Buck Jaspers to prove that the death was not an accident but murder because the Sturgis family fears a $50 million suit from the wife of Noel Chapman. Buck gathers his trusted operatives to interview the residents and employees of the Blue Parrot Apartments. They find that Noel did not get along with his wife and had a gambling problem, the assistant manager is a womanizer, two of the residents played poker with Chapman, and the custodian's wife and daughter are trapped in Cuba.