A little peasant girl claims to have been raped. The detective who arrives in the village discovers that it is a set-up, but at the same time reveals carefully hidden and very surprising truths about each.
A newly hired police chief vows to clean up a notoriously corrupt police department. When he is murdered, investigators find that there is no shortage of suspects, most of them being fellow cops.
Paddy O'Riley and Ossie Merrill, Bellport high school football heroes, enroll in distant colleges; Paddy at a small school in the East, where he is barely a substitute, and Ossie at a powerhouse-football school, where he is an instant star and all-American candidate.