In nineteen thirty-seven the Monte Carlo gambling ship runs aground in a storm off the Californian coast and a hundred thousand dollars-worth of gold and silver coins belonging to the Mafia go missing. But how did the coins turn up hidden in a house sixteen years later? In the mind of a private detective the coins seem inextricably linked to the brother of a young woman client. He went missing at the same time. It's a cold case, but things get hot when the boss of the LA mob steps in and demands the return of the coins. And things get even more complicated for the detective when a new client insists that the cops want him to swing for the murder of his wife even though he and his gun were fifty miles away at the time of the killing. And he's got witnesses. The problem is that the pursuit of the truth can often create its own victims. The question becomes: is the truth worth it when it's all down to the toss of a coin.