In 1960s New York, Walter Stackhouse is a successful architect married to the beautiful Clara who leads a seemingly perfect life. But his fascination with an unsolved murder leads him into a spiral of chaos as he is forced to play cat-and-mouse with a clever killer and an overambitious detective, while at the same time lusting after another woman.

After finding his brother murdered after returning from duty, Webster searches for the perpetrators, but discovers a conspiracy that cuts deep inside the U.S. government.