It's 1954, and Jake Weaver, formerly a newspaper journalist, now CBS News' West Coast correspondent, is creating a documentary on early slapstick comedy when Mack Sennett gets shot.

Could Hal Roach, Sennett's prime rival, be behind the shooting? When Jake and his assistant begin probing into the infamous Black Dahlia case, a car bomb destroys his car. Who could be behind that? Are the two attacks related? Jake's career shift seems to have triggered a storm of violent events. Why?