The quiet country town of Summerton has a rude awakening when its most prominent citizen, Councillor Rupert Morgan, is shot dead. His body is discovered just after the local newspaper editor, Greg Carson, and his close friend John Grayley, the local sergeant of police, are preparing for a day of fishing. When the Homicide team arrive to investigate, they find there is a general hatred of the murdered man throughout the town. And it just happens that Grayson's newspaper is on the verge of publishing a front page expose of the councillor, an unscrupulous man who has been embezzling one-and-a-half-million dollars of council funds. While helping with the police investigation, Carson, who has a reputation of being a good newspaper man, also fights to protect his scoop expose from being used by the big city reporters, who invade Summerton on the trail of the story. Carson is determined to run it, regardless of the man's death. During the investigation, the Homicide team look into Councillor Morgan's private life, including his association with Mrs. Juliet Stacey and her daughter Sandra.