When a male corpse, sunk with an anchor, is pulled from the sea, Detective Inspector Hal Challis would prefer to leave the case to someone else. He is frustrated with his romantic relationship and also annoyed by his colleagues at the police, whom he suspects of shady dealings. More and more often, he retreats to a hangar where he tinkers with his old airplane, and where his acquaintance from the airfield, Kitty, also works. But then Challis discovers strange aerial photographs that link Kitty to drug trafficking and murder. The melancholic Hal Challis hesitates, torn back and forth, until he has no choice left: to prevent further misfortune, he must intervene.