 Peter Caine, driving drunk at night on a lonely road, hits a man and seriously injures him. Peter s companion, Debra Bradford, takes over driving and leaves without offering assistance. She learns the man s name is Joseph Witt and devises a scheme for Peter to pay damages to Grace Witt, Joe s wife. Peter will buy the Witts  property for more than market value, which he willingly does. At the county board meeting, chief county engineer William Harper Caine, Peter s father, sides with Perry Mason to stop construction by contractor Roger Quigley until another survey may be prepared. Such a stop order will bankrupt Quigley, who accuses Caine of conflict of interest, citing Peter s recent real estate purchase. When Caine writes a check to Debra as final payment to Grace Witt, Quigley and his associate, Charles Sistrom, burst in and take pictures of the exchange. Now they want Caine to resign. Perry and Paul Drake find Quigley at home, dead with Caine--gun in hand-- standing over the body. Arrested, Caine confesses to the killing, but he is protecting someone else.