It's late in the 1940's, and New York City is full of shady characters - none shadier than Spade Slade, the dubious black private dick. An office visit by a beautiful blonde, a mysteriously disappeared husband, and a love nest in a seedy hotel get the story rolling. A murder, a smoke filled shop in Chinatown, the Rich Millionaire's Club with its leggy chorines, threats, hotel clerks, compromising photos of lovers in the act, a shipboard slug fest and a blazing shootout, cheap plot twists and dark secrets all lead our "second rung nobody of a private eye" to the solution of another case, the reward money, and a roller coaster ride into the sunset with his best girl.