Rick Barron, a sharp, capable detective on the Beverly Hills force, finds himself demoted after a run-in with a superior officer, but he soon lands a job other cops only dream about: the security detail for Centurion Pictures, one of the hottest studios in the midst of Hollywoods golden age of the late 1930s. As the protector of the studios interests, Barron looks after the elite of filmdoms stars - among them Clete Barrow, a British leading man with a penchant for parties, and Glenna Gleason, a peach of a talent on the verge of stardom. Ricks easy charm has society columnists dubbing him the Prince of Beverly Hills, the white knight of movie stars, until he stumbles across a murder cover-up and a blackmail scam that threaten the studios business and may have origins with some unsavory characters. When two suspicious deaths begin to look like a double murder, and an attempt is made on someone who has become an intimate friend, Barron knows he is up against wise guys whose stakes are nothing less than do-or-die. A dicey war of nerves is on.