Following the death of William Randoplh Hearst, newspaper report and editor Jake Weaver tries to help Hearst's long-time companion and lover, Marion Davies, receive a fair share of the Hearst fortune. That is an up-hill battle and one that enmeshes Weaver in a murder investigation, an investigation in which he himself becomes a prime suspect. At the same time, Marine officer Kenny Nielsen finds himself engaged in some dramatic events in the early phases of the Korean War, leading to his being seriously wounded. After Nielsen is sent to a naval hospital in San Diego for treatment and rehabilitation, it becomes clear that his sometimes shaky marriage is now seriously threatened by his wife's personal ambitions. Jake Weaver goes to great lengths to extricate himself from the murder investigation, not always making the best choices in the process; and Kenny Nielsen begins to wonder whether, in his hopes to preserve his marriage, he is only chasing after the wind.