When housewife Frances Hannon is abducted and buried alive, detective Madeline Foster is brought in. With only 24 hours before Frances' oxygen runs out, Madeline pursues the trail laid by a killer calling himself Harry Houdini. After capturing him, Madeline brings Harry back to the police station, but is unable to get him to confess where Frances is buried. As time runs down, Harry gets inside the head of unstable, alcoholic Madeline.
When her brother disappears during a brief travel layover in Mexico, Mitch begins a desperate search that will eventually lead the young divorcee into the capital city's most notorious neighborhood. But even with the aid of the American Ambassador, her plight is only met with indifference and inaction from the authorities. As the story unfolds, Mitch is forced to look for help in the least likely places as she races against time in a dangerous quest to find answers and locate her brother.
Joe McBeth is a hard-working but unambitious doofus who toils at a hamburger stand alongside his wife Pat, who is much smarter. Pat believes she could do better with the place than their boss Norm is doing, so she plans to usurp Norm, convincing Mac to rob the restaurant's safe and then murder Norm, using the robbery as a way of throwing the cops off their trail.
