From a foxhole on Guadalcanal (shared with Barney Ross) to the glitzy underworld of Hollywood in the '40s, Nate Heller fights his memories and the Mob. Something happened at the Canal, something Heller's blocking out. What he can't block, though, is the wound he received - the 'million-dollar wound', the one that got him home. Back in the States, and back in Chicago, he becomes involved once again with Frank Nitti during the gang boss' last violent days, and with the gangland attempts to take over the movie unions.