Small town librarian Gwen Barlow gets more than she expected when she inherits her Uncle Eli's lavish turn-of-the-century showboat, the Jubilee Palace. Gwen, her mother and brother, leave their Ohio home for the Mississippi River, only to discover that the Jubilee is in serious financial straits, Eli's death by a falling theater backdrop is under suspicion, and the showboat family of actors and musicians are all suspects.