Bengt, a ship mechanic , and his wife Karin has been relocated to a modern apartment house in Stockholm. On the ground floor is a tobacconist, whose owner Frithiof is also the deputy landlord of the house.
After the discovery of two murders, Commissioner Chabrier, of the French secret services, is investigating the disappearance of plans affecting the national defense of the country robbed by a gang of international spies.
Convicted killer Jim Holden is rescued from the sheriff by his gang, led by Mason and Riley. He is out to get the Hathaway Stage superintendent George Bannister, who was responsible for his conviction and learns the Bannister, his niece (Kay) and Hal Hathaway, son of the stage line owner, are on a cross-country stage.
The third of the Monogram series based on Ham Fisher's "Joe Palooka" comic strip, opens with Knobby Walsh, the manager of Joe Palooka trying to talk his way out of a traffic citation, and the story leading to that point is told in flashback as narrated by Walsh.