Sam Turner is trying to turn his life around. Newly divorced, he's kicked the habit of his wife and now he's working on the booze. Introducing himself at a group meeting one night, he succumbs to a sudden impulse to say he's a private detective, and the Sam Turner Detective Agency is born. Terry, one of the men from the meeting, comes to Sam because he thinks his wife is having an affair. Can he hire Sam on retainer? Piece of cake, Sam thinks. Follow her, snap a few photographs, pocket the money - how hard can it be? The case starts out so smoothly, Sam's convinced that life is really looking up. But then Terry is brutally stabbed to death, and the police begin to think they have a serial killer on their hands. Suddenly Sam's career as a private detective is taking off by leaps and bounds.