 Commodore Otis Swanson is tired of seeing his once-upstanding shipbuilding business turned into a faceless behemoth by his greedy son-in-law, Charles Clay. At a celebration of the Commodore s birthday, the crusty old sailor tells Clay, his drunken daughter Joanna, his nephew Swanny, and employees Kittering and Wayne Taylor that he intends to sell the company. The Commodore vanishes at sea that night, and Lieutenant Columbo thinks Clay as something to do with it. But the road to the truth is filled with surprises that even Columbo won t expect.