Seventeen year old Benjamin Harris is weeks away from graduating high school when his mother mysteriously disappears one night. Maxine Harris, a single mother, part-time store clerk and occasional nightclub singer was supposed to be going on an audition the very same evening that jazz singer Kitty Kenyon also vanished. A year later law enforcement authorities deem this highly publicized tragedy a "cold case” but Ben refuses to believe that his mother simply vanished into thin air. His obsession with finding the truth becomes the driving force influencing his decision to become a New York City Police Department detective.

  Lt. Alvin Pine, Ben's commanding officer and life-long bachelor, marries sophisticated stage actress Brenda Lofton. Brenda takes a keen maternal interest in Ben's personal and professional life, especially in his romance with Phyllis Garner, the "girl next door" who Ben hadn't seen since the time he became orphaned.

  While Lt. Pine and Ben's partner Jerry Osgood lend their assistance in uncovering the facts behind Maxine Harris's secret life they inadvertently  become entangled with an international criminal organization that may have had a hand in promoting Brenda Lofton's career. 

  Does Brenda possess information about Maxine's disappearance?