John Owen Cosatelli is a brilliant pianist who has abandoned his concert career for what he considers "minor" levels of performance. But John's ex-girlfriend is murdered and he becomes the primary suspect---at least in the eyes of her new lover. But when the police are hesitant to arrest John, the new lover decides to take violent revenge. The background is music; classical, jazz, and pop, but the main theme is murder, and the tempo is fast, furious, and deadly.