While performing a mock seance at his fashionable home, William Bonner (Richard Gordon) is shot to death after the lights suddenly go out. The victim's wife, Justine (Jacqueline deWit), is brought in for police questioning along with her guests, including Frances (Frances Chan), daughter of the legendary Hawaiian detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler). At the invitation of homicide Inspector Matthews (Joseph Crehan), the polite but indefatigable Chan begins sifting the evidence of the murder.