FBI agent Bill Norton has been sent to Ketchikan, Alaska to track down his former boss, who's vanished while investigating a heroin smuggling ring. Norton instantly suspects the smugglers are operating from inside the local fishing fleet. But six months and a string of declared "accidental" drownings have failed to turn up any clues.

Norton's cold case heats up when the local radio station owner emerges, floating face-down at the docks, and a heart-stopping heiress to the halibut trade makes a maelstrom of trouble. The fact that Norton is well dressed and neatly shaven causes some of the local toughs to mistake the agent for a "chee-chalker"—or newcomer—much to their regret.