Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation business shifting from labour-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a onetime strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks hes found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case, locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune whos taken a mind to go wandering. Before he knows it, hes been shanghaied onto a transoceanic liner, ending up eventually in Hungary where theres no shoreline, a language from some other planet, and enough pastry to see any cop well into retirement and of course no sign of the runaway heiress hes supposed to be chasing.

By the time Hicks catches up with her he will find himself also entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them, none of which Hicks is qualified, forget about being paid, to deal with.

Surrounded by history he has no grasp on and cant see his way around in or out of, the only bright side for Hicks is its the dawn of the Big Band Era and as it happens hes a pretty good dancer. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to Lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question.