General Sternwood has four million dollars, and two young daughters, both pretty and both wild. He's an old, sick man, close to death, but he doesn't like being blackmailed. So he asks private detective Philip Marlowe to get the blackmailer off his back. Marlowe knows the dark side of life in Los Angeles well, and nothing much surprises him. But the Sternwood girls are a lot wilder than their old father realizes. They like men, drink, drugs - and it's not just a question of blackmail.

Sternwood將軍非常富有，有兩個年輕、漂亮但任性的女兒。他既老又生病，生命即將結束，但有人向他勒索。不甘心就這樣把錢給別人，他請來私人偵探Philip Marlowe，幫他找出到底是誰敲詐他，以解決他的煩惱。Marlowe非常瞭解洛杉磯的生活，任何事都讓他不覺得驚奇。然而Sternwood根本不知道他那兩個女兒有多麼野，她們像個男孩子一樣喝酒、吸毒。看似一樁稀鬆平常的敲詐案，背後卻藏了事情的真相…