A debutante is found raped and murdered at a country club ball in December of 1965. The debutante's boyfriend is convicted of her murder, but an eyewitness knows it wasn't him. The story progresses through the Navy's arduous frogman training to combat action in Vietnam, as the falsely convicted murderer and the eyewitness unravel the mystery of who killed the debutante and why. The trail leads to an unscrupulous defense contractor who conspires with the debutante's twin sister in the murder.