A man pursues his missing teenage sister after she vanishes from a city department store, enduring months of fruitless police work and private searches. He forms an alliance with a friend and traces faint clues through urban neighborhoods and social circles, undertaking risky investigations that include clandestine burglaries, confrontations with criminal elements, and tense surveillance. Chapters alternate investigative procedure and perilous skirmishes as the pair penetrate a criminal web, piece together fractured evidence, and encounter mysterious rooms and voices. The narrative builds to a decisive attempt to tear apart the conspiracy and reveal the truth in a final surprise.