A psychological detective employs experimental forensic and psychic techniques to uncover a network of customs fraud and violence at a major importing company's docks. Called in by a secret Treasury agent after a dock checker is killed and another vanishes, he follows leads through stormbound ports, scale houses, and the company's inner offices. The investigation exposes collusion among powerful officials, a grieving family entangled with dock management, and the tension between conventional inquiry and emerging methods of psychological detection, blending mystery procedure with speculative scientific ideas.