An Italian policeman investigates a series of murders involving people in prominent positions. Left behind at each murder scene is a drawing of a salamander. The policeman begins to suspect these murders are linked to a plot to seize control of the government.
Art Dodge is a painter-turned-gallerist drowning in debt. He gets in over his head when a con job leads to an engagement with a rich divorcee. He gets in deeper when he falls for her sister, and invents a twin brother to be her beau; and deeper still when his fiancée's ex-husband comes looking for revenge.