A drop-dead gorgeous redhead wants Sam Spader to prove in court that she is the rightful heir to an estate valued at upwards of a hundred million dollars. In less than a year this fortune is scheduled to revert to the State as an Abandoned Asset. To liberate this massive money from the greedy clutches of the State and place it into the greedy clutches of the gorgeous lady, Sam would have to solve a forty-year-old mystery that has baffled dozens of dedicated investigators and inspired numerous lawsuits. It's the impossible dream. No one has ever been able to turn up a single clue as to the true identity of Vivian Kimberly, who died forty years ago without a will, and who, before she died, carefully destroyed everything that might prove who she was. How does one prove they are related to someone who never legally existed? It's the challenge, not the money. Really! Sam agrees to look into it. As if that wasn't enough, Lucretia Lacey's best friend drops dead during a bridge game. Lucretia is sure it was murder, but why would anyone murder a nice old lady? Then there's another murder and Lucretia is attacked. In trying to solve this one and protect Lucretia, Sam calls on the disreputable felon, Phelonious Jones, and two of his peculiar buddies for an assist. Then there's romance. Romance looms huge in Sam's life.