British art dealer Oliver Cooper lived an apparently idyllic life on sun-soaked Mallorca - until he abruptly disappeared. Low-keyed, cognac-nipping, but always sharp-witted Inspector Enrique Alvarez is called upon to investigate the disappearance. Cooper is presumed dead and thought to have been considering suicide, but his car was abandoned and no one can find the body. Alvarez has just decided that suicide is out of the question when Cooper's body finally turns up in his own home, making it plain to everyone - even to Alvarez's superior, Superintendent Salas - that a murder has occurred. On the trail for suspects, Alvarez discovers that Cooper's beautiful widow, Rachael, has been having an affair, and that the dead man's neighbor also had cause to hate him. There is no shortage of suspects, except that Cooper's smashed watch indicates his time of death, and those under suspicion all seem to have alibis. But is evidence in the shape of a watch to be believed?