When syndicated romance columnist John Hunter is found dead from an apparent overdose of pills in a sleepy Long Island hamlet, the townspeople accept the outside's demise in stride. But when they discover that Hunter was murdered and had led a duplicitous life devoted to his sexual pleasures with local women, they panic. Police Chief Hank Reed is torn between his allegiance to his beloved town and the honor of his shield. As that balance bends toward justice, the townspeople rise against him, including his wife, who Reed suspects might be Hunter's killer...