L'introuvable, c'est Clyde Wynant, richissime inventeur original qui a disparu de la circulation depuis le meurtre de sa secrétaire très particulière, Julia. Son avocat, son ex-femme, ses enfants, l'une à demi-hystérique, l'autre doctoral et sournois, la police même qui le soupçonne le manquent tour à tour. C'est Nick Charles, le détective, et Nora, sa spirituelle épouse, qui finissent par éclaircir le mystère de cette disparition.

'When I opened my eyes and sat up in bed Nora was shaking me and a man with a gun in his hand was standing in the bedroom doorway.'
Ex-detective Nick Charles attracts trouble like a magnet. He thinks his sleuthing days are over, but when Julia Wolf, a former acquaintance, is found dead, her body riddled with bullets, Nick - along with his glamorous wife, Nora - can't resist making a few enquiries. Clyde Miller Wynant, Julia's lover and boss, has disappeared.

Everyone is after him, but Nick is not convinced Wynant is the murderer - and when he finds a junked-up hoodlum with a careless attitude to guns in his bedroom, it's only the beginning of his troubles.