The local community theater group of Dumont, Wisconsin, is about to stage a new production starring two teenage boys alternating in the lead role. When one of them, Jason Thrush, dies suddenly after a verbal clash with Thad Quatrain -- the other lead -- local gossip turns against Thad. Mark Manning, Thad's uncle and the owner and publisher of the Dumont Daily Register, enlists the help of his lover Neil Waite to clear Thad's name. But to do that, he has to uncover the truth about Jason's death.