Philip Marlowe has two cases on his books and they may not be as unconnected as they seem. Giant-sized Moose Malloy is straight out of jail and looking for Velma, his chorus-line girlfriend. Marlowe takes sympathy on him and agrees to track her down but all he finds is a dead-end. Meanwhile, smooth gigolo Lindsay Marriott is eager to buy back a rare jade necklace from thieves and hires Marlowe as protection during the transaction. The neon-drenched, smoke-filled LA of 1941 forms the background for this gritty, atmospheric adaptation of Raymond Chandler's cool, laconic loser.