When a rising starlet from Spanish Harlem dies from a gunshot wound in the fashionable downtown penthouse of an eccentric and famous Broadway producer, New York District Attorney Roger "Butch" Karp and his hard-charging, crime-fighting wife, Marlene Ciampi, smell drama. Karp is outraged at claims by the producer and his high-powered attorney that the "troubled" actress committed suicide. With the help of a fearful witness who Marlene convinces to speak out, Karp wages a relentless battle for justice against a notorious defendant, a legion of experts, and a barrage of hostile threats.