San Francisco is shocked when the incinerated body of John "HammerJack" Marteau, the linebacker for the Fortyniners, is found in his burned out SUV at the bottom of a ravine. Andrew MacCrimmon has other problems-he is recovering from a four month bout of morbid depression following a near-fatal gunshot wound, and his marriage is disintegrating-but he is drawn into the case when a chance encounter with Marteau's dental tech convinces him the body is not Marteau's, that this is a life insurance scam. If so, whose body is it? And who's involved? In the end, the conspirators strongly resent his meddling.