Dashiell Hammett, America’s foremost mystery writer, is invited for a weekend at Hearst Castle in the spring of 1934. But when a body is discovered in the gardens, William Randolph Hearst calls upon Hammett to solve the crime before before his media empire is immersed in scandal. Marion Davies and a cast of Hollywood stars, gangsters and hoodlums are soon caught up in the investigation which grows more complicated by the moment.