The time is 1942, and the legendary maestro Leopold Stowkowski has reason to be concerned. The decision to stage a new production of Madame Butterfly may not have been wise - anti-Japanese sentiment is running high. Behind the scenes, a stagehand falls (or was he pushed?) to his death, and the diva's life is threatened in a series of mysterious messages. Determined to save his production, the maestro enlists the help of L.A. private eye Toby Peters. Soon baffled, Peters calls in a few of his buddies. As they stalk a modern-day phantom of the opera, they come within a hair's breadth of being murdered themselves. And to complicate matters further, Toby finds that he has fallen in love with the soprano slated for death!