 Luis Montoya is an ex-bullfighter, renowned throughout Mexico for his courage in the ring. His trusted bookkeeper, Hector Rangel, has a son who is also a bullfighter. The son was recently gored in the ring and sent to the hospital. Montoya and the elder Rangel were both at this bullfight, and something happens that neither can ever forget. When days later, Rangel ends up dead in the bullring, it looks as if he tried to revenge his son on the bull by fighting it alone. Lt. Columbo of the Los Angeles police department, on vacation with his wife in Tijuana, is persuaded to investigate the case by Commandante Sanchez. The rumpled, redoubtable detective notices things that lead him to suspect murder--with a bull as the murder weapon.