It is November 1, 1940. In the famous sound stage of The Wizard of Oz on the MGM lot, a little man is lying face-up on the yellow brick road. Someone has murdered a munchkin.

Toby Peters is summoned to the scene of the crime by a very young and frightened starlet named Judy Garland and begins to put together the scant clues. Within an hour, he is hired by Lewis B. Mayer himself to keep the name of Judy Garland (and MGM) clean of the scandal, and to hold off the police and the newspapers. But before long, Peters realizes that he is on to nothing less than a plot threatening the life of Miss Garland. Enlisting the aid of Judy, Clark Gable, and Raymond Chandler, Peters uncovers clue after clue but the odds are heavily stacked against him.