September, 1928; Bay Shore, Long Island-A summer haven for the wealthy, Bay Shore has magnificent waterfront homes, luxury hotels, a vaudeville theater, an acclaimed yacht club, a renowned racetrack, and even a major motion picture studio. But as the small town edges past its prime, all is not well in Bay Shore.

With the tenth anniversary of the Armistice just weeks away, a trouble-prone veteran goes missing. At the struggling local newspaper, a cub reporter is desperate to get off the obituary beat, and the financially strapped publisher needs to boost revenue quickly. Meanwhile, one of Bay Shore's leading citizens must run a last, risky operation for a notorious bootlegger, and a popular police lieutenant is investigating a mystery that no one wants solved.