David Montgomery is a reporter for the San Francisco Clarion Newspaper, and lives on a sailboat. At one of the city functions he meets the chief engineer for the City's massive wastewater construction project. Later David takes him for a sailboat ride and they discover wastewater coming from a pipe that should be dry. Later the engineer disappears and David searches for him. When the chief engineer is found dead in one of the sewers, David investigates whether it is an accident or murder. The trail leads David though all the phases of the project and the companies that are building it. What he finds is that not everyone is who they seem to be. Even his romantic interests are open to suspicion.