Dorothy Wynant is worried about her missing father, Clyde Wynant. When she runs into Nick Charles, an ex-detective who worked for her father, she asks if he's seen Wynant. Nick says that he doesn't...

Dorothy Wynant is worried about her missing father, Clyde Wynant. When she runs into Nick Charles, an ex-detective who worked for her father, she asks if he's seen Wynant. Nick says that he doesn't know anything about it, and he is too busy to take the case. Nick continues to say this while everyone from his wife, Nora, to Mr. MacCauley, Wynant's lawyer, tell him to take the case. But after Julia Wolf, Wynant's secretary, is murdered, and Wynant still has not turned up, Nick has no choice. It will take two more murders and a diner party for Nick to find the murderer.