Hal Weston arrives in Los Angeles in search of his ex-wife Nora Petrie, whose current husband, Petrie, once a partner with Weston in the import business, recently died. Nora divorced Hal shortly after Petrie, who was using the firm as a front for smuggling dope, escaped from the New York police. Weston contacts Osgood, a former employee of Petrie's, and asks him to aid in the search for Nora. In the Oriental section of L.A., he learns from Li Sheng that Nora was a dope addict. Also learning that Nora had plans of going to the Orient on her husband's insurance money, he discovers that the picture on her passport belongs to another woman. He confronts Dr. Sheng, Li Sheng's father, about Petrie's death certificate. Later, receiving a call from Dr. Sheng to meet him at the Observatory, Weston is attacked by two thugs but escapes. Li Sheng is waiting for him and accuses him of murdering her father. Nora's body has been discovered in Petrie's coffin,proving to Weston that Petrie killed Nora, bribed the mortuary assistant to put her in a casket with his name on it after bribing Dr. Sheng to falsify his death certificate, and hired another woman to masquerade as Nora. He learns the whereabouts of Petrie from Janet Oberon, the woman posing as Nora. He finds Petrie with his face swathed in bandages, the result of plastic surgery by Dr. Sheng. Osgood enters with a gun, shielding himself behind Li Sheng, and stops Weston from attacking Petrie. The latter is forced to remove his bandages when Weston throws alcohol in his face and his face has been changed to resemble Osgood.—Les Adams <[email protected]>